Looks like variety have a slightly different take on the current happenings regarding The Hobbit movie. As I mentioned earlier this week - New line, and Jackson are mid battle in an auditing lawsuit over finance for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. THis time, there's another angle that seems relatively promising. The piece is entitled Who's the Boss of the Hobbit? and what it seems to outline, is that although New Line do own the rights to the movie, MGM in fact own the distribution rights, and it looks as though MGM are in Jackson's corner. Thats some coach to have on your side. One key comment was made which instantly turned my head:
"An MGM spokesman said that "the matter of Peter Jackson directing 'The Hobbit' films is far from closed."
Indeed!
In brief, it would seem that New Line execs are keen to do the movie ASAP as their rights expire relatively soon, but Jackson won't touch it until the lawsuit over the auditing on LOTR is resolved, so New Line wanted to give the movie to Jackson only as part of a reconciliation deal over the lawsuit, Jackson firmly believes that the two things should be kept seperate, and the result - Deadlock. Jackson has officially stated that the possibility of him doing the Hobbit were over, but now that MGM have weighed in as Jackson's big brother, perhaps some of their distribution weight can shift New Line execs enough in their seats to think twice about going with another director. Lets hope so!
Apparently there have been one or two names floating around about who else might do it, one of which being Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who's stunning career so far offers a touch of hope should Jackson not get the gig, with movies such as Amelie and Delicatessen under his belt. But nonetheless, all of us in geekdom remain hopefull that the Jackson/New Line dispute will be resolved, and we can all live happily ever after!
Fingers x'd
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