Peter Jackson Dumped From THE HOBBIT

[AndyDursin]

First HALO now THE HOBBIT.

Some Howard Shore fans may not be able to sleep tonight, lol...but I feel for those who feel bad.

I think the fall out from KING KONG was a lot bigger than some anticipated...

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Peter Jackson dumped from Hobbit movie!
Posted : November 20, 2006 Writer : Clint Morris

In a move that’s destined to have the Hobbits picketing, New Line is said to have shafted director Peter Jackson from “The Hobbit”.

Jackson said in a statement to TheOneRing.net that he would’ve definitely been back to direct the “Lord of the Rings” prequel, but its no longer his decision.

“Several years ago, Mark Ordesky told us that New Line have rights to make not just The Hobbit but a second "LOTR prequel", covering the events leading up to those depicted in LOTR. Since then, we've always assumed that we would be asked to make The Hobbit and possibly this second film, back to back, as we did the original movies. We assumed that our lawsuit with the studio would come to a natural conclusion and we would then be free to discuss our ideas with the studio, get excited and jump on board. We've assumed that we would possibly get started on development and design next year, whilst filming The Lovely Bones. We even had a meeting planned with MGM executives to talk through our schedule”, said Jackson. “However last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on the Hobbit and the LOTR 'prequel'. This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects.

“Ordesky said that New Line has a limited time option on the film rights they have obtained from Saul Zaentz (this has never been conveyed to us before), and because we won't discuss making the movies until the lawsuit is resolved, the studio is going to have to hire another director. Given that New Line are committed to this course of action, we felt at the very least, we owed you, the fans, a straightforward account of events as they have unfolded for us.
“We have always had the greatest support from The Ringers and we are very sorry our involvement with The Hobbit has been ended in this way. Our journey into Tolkien's world started with a phone call from Ken Kamins to Harvey Weinstein in Nov 1995 and ended with a phone call from Mark Ordesky to Ken in Nov 2006. It has been a great 11 years.
“This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness and rancor. We now have no choice but to let the idea of a film of The Hobbit go and move forward with other projects.”

http://www.moviehole.net/news/20061120_ ... _hobb.html

[Carlson2005]

Nothing to do with Halo, everything to do with the lawsuit. But it's an incredibly stupid move on New Line's part that will probably halve the gross in a single stroke.

[Paul MacLean]

Its probably just as well. I think audiences would be expecting The Hobbit to be another colossal epic like Lord of the Rings, which it is not, and would therefor leave people disappointed. Imagine how people would have responded to The Phantom Menace if it had one third of the scale of the original Star Wars.

They would ask "Where are all the epic battles?" "Where are all the hoards of orcs?" "Where is Christopher Lee?" (of course I was asking that during both The Two Towers and Return of the King!)

Because of the LOTR films, the name "Tolkien" triggers "action-fatasy-epic" in the public's mind, and the comparatively small scale of The hobbit would certianly disappoint audiences, and probably be a bomb.

[mkaroly]

Its probably just as well. I think audiences would be expecting The Hobbit to be another colossal epic like Lord of the Rings, which it is not, and would therefor leave people disappointed. Imagine how people would have responded to The Phantom Menace if it had one third of the scale of the original Star Wars.

They would ask "Where are all the epic battles?" "Where are all the hoards of orcs?" "Where is Christopher Lee?" (of course I was asking that during both The Two Towers and Return of the King!)

Because of the LOTR films, the name "Tolkien" triggers "action-fatasy-epic" in the public's mind, and the comparatively small scale of The hobbit would certianly disappoint audiences, and probably be a bomb.

I would have given Jackson the benefit of the doubt there. He has done smaller scale pieces that got him on the map- I was looking forward to seeing what he would have brought to the table for this one.

TPM should have had one third the scale of the first SW film since it took place before episode four and the technology shouldn't have been "better" (I know...I know....suspend disbelief here)....and all three should have had an actual director who could direct sitting behind the camera rather than Lucas. That's my opinion (which isn't worth anything really).

Does everything have to be a large scale epic anymore? I wonder who they're going to recruit to direct THE HOBBIT. Maybe Horner will get to score it, making up for his supposed mistake in turning down the original LOTR Trilogy (supposedly).....let's hope not.

[AndyDursin]

Does everything have to be a large scale epic anymore? I wonder who they're going to recruit to direct THE HOBBIT. Maybe Horner will get to score it, making up for his supposed mistake in turning down the original LOTR Trilogy (supposedly).....let's hope not.

Wasn't Jackson's idea to "enhance" the Tolkien story and add all kinds of action and story into it? I realize everyone wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but THE HOBBIT is a pleasant, lovely "little" piece and I can't see how turning it into this overblown epic would suit the material.

Wasn't Horner bypassed because he wanted more money than they were willing to pay? (Or perhaps he turned it down over that). I remember when Wolfwhatever Kilar was the composer attached to the project!

[mkaroly]

Does everything have to be a large scale epic anymore? I wonder who they're going to recruit to direct THE HOBBIT. Maybe Horner will get to score it, making up for his supposed mistake in turning down the original LOTR Trilogy (supposedly).....let's hope not.

Wasn't Jackson's idea to "enhance" the Tolkien story and add all kinds of action and story into it? I realize everyone wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but THE HOBBIT is a pleasant, lovely "little" piece and I can't see how turning it into this overblown epic would suit the material.

Wasn't Horner bypassed because he wanted more money than they were willing to pay? (Or perhaps he turned it down over that). I remember when Wolfwhatever Kilar was the composer attached to the project!

They wouldn't pay him enough (supposedly)??? LOL.....I am so thankful he didn't score those films. I know you've not a fan of the scores Andy but I absolutely love them and the idea that Horner could have scored them makes me shudder.

LOL...Wojichek Kilar....whatever. I recently pulled out his score for Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA and listened to it a few times. It's very Transylvanian (whatever that means). I kind of liked it, but then I started getting frustrated over Coppola's and Hart's artistic choices with the love story and got annoyed whenever I heard the love theme. He should have just called it DRACULA since there was no love story between Mina and the Count in Stoker's book.

If Jackson was going to try and enhance the story, I'd have been against that. I agree that turning it into an overblown epic would have been a mistake.

[Paul MacLean]

They wouldn't pay him enough (supposedly)???

I suspect all of the A-list composers in the business were priced outside what New Line was willing to pay. I think the main reason Shore got the job was that he was affordable. He's certainly wasn't an A-list composer at the time.

LOL.....I am so thankful he didn't score those films. I know you've not a fan of the scores Andy but I absolutely love them and the idea that Horner could have scored them makes me shudder.

Horner's not perfect by any means, but there's no denying Krull is one of the best scores of the 80s and one of the definitive scores of the fantasy genre. That doesn't mean Horner would have done a better job, but its a pretty good indication of what Horner can do in the genre.

And I have to be honest. The allure of the LOTR scores continues to elude me as well. To me, a great fantasy score is Krull, or Heavy Metal, Legend, The Dark Crystal, Conan or Williams' Harry Potter scores.

I dom't think Shore's music is anywhere near in league with those.

[Carlson2005]

Oddly enough, while I like both Krull and two of the LOTR scores (Two Towers was a bit weak), I've never understood the allure of Heavy Metal, a very underwhelming score for a very underwhelming film that's all too typical of the ondes martinot dreariness of too many of Bernstein's scores of that era. After Five Days One Summer it was pretty much all downhill for Elmer for me...

[Paul MacLean]

Oddly enough, while I like both Krull and two of the LOTR scores (Two Towers was a bit weak), I've never understood the allure of Heavy Metal, a very underwhelming score for a very underwhelming film that's all too typical of the ondes martinot dreariness of too many of Bernstein's scores of that era.

Really? I think Heavy Metal is one of Elmer's best. Actually it is my favorite Bernstein score. I get the biggest charge out of all the cues in "Den", and his music for the "Tarrna" episode was a rapturous and ecstatic, and some of his best use of the Ondes Martinot (I think partly because Jeanne Loriod was a better player than Cynthia Millar, who featured on his later work).

Apparently tho, the "Bomber" episode was actually ghostwritten by David Spear (one of Bernstein's orchestrators).

After Five Days One Summer it was pretty much all downhill for Elmer for me...

I think he did some of his best work after that film -- Ghostbusters and Slipstream are among his finest efforts. And Legal Eagles had a very nice, light jazzy score, unlike anything he'd done before. Devil In A Blue Dress and Hoodlum are very nice too. But Marie Ward, The Babe, My Left Foot and Da really don't do it for me at all.

But if it had been up to me, I would have selected Elmer Bernstein to score Lord of the Rings.

[mkaroly]

They wouldn't pay him enough (supposedly)???

I suspect all of the A-list composers in the business were priced outside what New Line was willing to pay. I think the main reason Shore got the job was that he was affordable. He's certainly wasn't an A-list composer at the time.

LOL.....I am so thankful he didn't score those films. I know you've not a fan of the scores Andy but I absolutely love them and the idea that Horner could have scored them makes me shudder.

Horner's not perfect by any means, but there's no denying Krull is one of the best scores of the 80s and one of the definitive scores of the fantasy genre. That doesn't mean Horner would have done a better job, but its a pretty good indication of what Horner can do in the genre.

And I have to be honest. The allure of the LOTR scores continues to elude me as well. To me, a great fantasy score is Krull, or Heavy Metal, Legend, The Dark Crystal, Conan or Williams' Harry Potter scores.

I dom't think Shore's music is anywhere near in league with those.

I do have KRULL and listen to it every now and then, so I do like it. And I think CONAN is a great score as is LEGEND. The Williams' HP scores are also well done (my favorite being POA)- but I think Shore was successful in carrying and developing his themes across 12 hours of music (or so) whereas I'm not sure Horner would have had the ability to pull that off as artistically as Shore did. This music is so layered and textured and I seriously can't get enough of it.

[MarkB]

Back to THE HOBBIT: I've been hearing all kinds of interesting rumors regarding these recent developments. My first reaction was that both sides were just playing hardball, and that it would be worked out eventually. I still think that's a strong possibility.

I thought that New Line was bluffing about needing to get things rolling soon, but apparently the film rights revert back to Saul Zaentz next year, so New Line and MGM's window of opportunity is indeed shrinking.

Zaentz has been saying that when he has the rights again, he'd like to get the project set up with Jackson. He seems to think that's a no-brainer. I like this option best, because it gives Jackson & Co. more time to write and prep. (I read an interview with Jackson recently where he more or less admitted that KING KONG could have benefitted from a longer writing schedule. He's determined not to have to rush into production again. Of course, if he irons things out with New Line, that's exactly what will happen.)

I really don't like the idea of New Line pushing ahead with someone else at the helm. But I can't imagine New Line letting this slip away, with or without Jackson. Guess we'll know soon enough.

Mark