The 8th Daily Movie News episode went online earlier today, with info on:

• Marky Mark Wahlberg in Max Payne
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine
• Ridley Scott’s A Brave New World
• David Cronenberg and Denzel Washington
• Guillermo Del Toro on The Hobbit
• James Caan and Luke Wilson
• Twilight
• And Forest Whitaker as Louis Armstrong

Sorry for the awful delay today.

Rik

In a court hearing June 6, Christopher Tolkien will try to terminate the rights to ‘The Hobbit.’ The 83 year old son of J.R.R. Tolkien accuses New Line Cinema of ‘accounting chicanery,’ also known as ‘Hollywood accounting.’ He says the studio still owes his family $160 million of the $6 billion it made from the three pictures. They only received an upfront payment of $62,500, so he claims.

J.R.R. Tolkien, who thought his books were unstageable, is said to have sold the rights for a 7.5% share of profits when he had to pay a tax bill in 1969. And the Tolkien Trust, which is run by Christopher and his sister Priscilla have never been pleased with New Line Cinema’s adaptations. It’s not known how big of a threat this is for the $300 million ‘The Hobbit’ project. New Line Cinema and Time Warner declined to comment.

The chat with Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro about the new ‘The Hobbit’ movies took place today — or yesterday depending on where you live. And some minor facts came out of it. Peter Jackson mainly spoke about his role in making the movie, but there were some other interesting tidbits too.

About a possible Blu-ray set of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies, Peter Jackson said, “We are working on a blu ray [sic] version of the LOTR trilogy with Warner Bros at the moment, not sure when it is due for release. It certainly won’t be this year.”

Guillermo also confirmed the (likely) involvement of Howard Shore for the movies’ score. “Yes- absolutely, Shore is the VOICE of these films and we will absolutely be invited back. Peter and Fran have talked to him a couple of times already and Ive [sic] exchanged emails about the subject. He will return.” Interesting, since Peter Jackson replaced Shore at the last moment for his ‘King Kong.’

Continue reading ‘The Hobbit’ chat: Jackson’s involvement