New Line is no more. Variety reports that parts of its operation will be folded into parent company Warners, but it will mean the ouster of contentious studio heads Bob Shaye (right) and Michael Lynne, as well as most of its 600 staffers.
Time Warner said New Line would continue to have development, marketing, business affairs and some distribution operations but those will be cut severely. And New Line films will go out through Warner Bros. pipes after this weekend’s “Semi-Pro.”
Yadda, yadda, yadda . . . what we really want to know is how it will affect the planned Hobbit movies.
“The Hobbit” has Guillermo Del Toro in talks to direct, and the picture will be unaffected by the ouster of Shaye and Lynne. Though the films won’t be scripted until a director is hired, and Jackson wraps “The Lovely Bones,” the expectation is that the films will be ready for release for Christmas 2011 and 2012. Harry Potter will have wound down at WB by then, and the corporation will surely welcome another fantasy franchise that has an eager global audience waiting. New Line will distribute domestically, while MGM has international rights.
Whew . . . that’s a relief.
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I think del Toro is a fantastic choice for The Hobbit. Let’s hope this all works out, especially with the current suit by Tolkien’s heirs.
I think del Toro will be great, perhaps — and I know this is blasphemy with LOTR fans — better than Jackson. Looking back on it, I think Pan’s Labyrinth might be the most resonant fantasy I’ve ever seen.
And you’re right about the heirs … although reading about their complaint, it sounds like it’s valid. New Line — as is true with a lot of studios — has accounting practices that would make Al Capone blush.