Weinstein brothers sue Time Warner for $75M over ‘Hobbit’ films

NEW YORK | Movie producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have sued Time Warner Inc for at least $75 million over its decision to divide the screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book “The Hobbit” into three parts, and refusing to pay them for the second and third films.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, the Weinstein brothers and Miramax LLC said executives at Warner Brothers and its New Line Cinema unit chose to split “The Hobbit” as a pretext to deprive them of 5 percent of the gross receipts from the last two films.

The Weinsteins said they had in 1998 sold New Line the movie rights to “The Hobbit” and Tolkien’s trilogy “The Lord of the Rings,” after having spent more than $10 million to adapt them. They said New Line had agreed to make payments for the “first motion picture,” but not “remakes,” based on the books.

“This case is about greed and ingratitude,” said the Weinsteins and Miramax, which the brothers founded. “Warner takes this position solely to deprive plaintiffs of their right to share in the revenues from two of the three filmed installments of ‘The Hobbit.’”

Warner Brothers countered that the Weinsteins simply made a business mistake when they sold the film rights to New Line.

Paul McGuire, a Warner Brothers spokesman, said the studio filed for arbitration on November 26 with JAMS Inc, a New York firm once known as Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, to resolve the dispute.

“This is about one of the great blunders in movie history,” McGuire said. “Fifteen years ago Miramax, run by the Weinstein brothers, sold its rights in ‘The Hobbit’ to New Line. No amount of trying to rewrite history can change that fact. They agreed to be paid only on the first motion picture based on ‘The Hobbit.’ And that’s all they’re owed.”

Tuesday’s lawsuit is the latest litigation involving the Weinsteins, who earlier this year battled with Warner Brothers over the title of one of their films, which was eventually called “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.”




The lawsuit over “The Hobbit” was filed three days before the scheduled December 13 worldwide release of director Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” the second of the three planned “Hobbit” films.

The first film, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” was released in 2012 and grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

David Boies and Motty Shulman, who are partners at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, represent Miramax and the Weinsteins. They were not immediately available on Wednesday for comment.

The case is Miramax LLC et al v. New Line Cinema Corp et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 161383/2013.

source: interaksyon.com

Fans to get sneak peek at new ‘Hobbit’ film in London, NY, LA, Wellington

WELLINGTON | Hobbit fans will get a sneak peek at the second film of the trilogy — “The Desolation of Smaug” — after director Peter Jackson announced a global live presentation next month.

Cinemas in London, New York, Los Angeles and Wellington will be satellite-linked on November 4 for an event including a question and answer session with cast members, Jackson said on his Facebook page.

The time difference means it will be November 5 for Kiwi fans.

Jackson did not say who would be involved, but the official Hobbit website on Monday said cast members would include Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans and Andy Serkis.

Additional cinemas will be set up in select locations worldwide where fans can gather to watch the event live. It will also be streamed on the Internet.

Jackson, a New Zealander, said further details on locations and timings would be released in coming days on the official Facebook and Twitter pages.

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is not due to be officially premiered until December 13.

The first film in the series, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”, was released in December last year with the final chapter “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” scheduled to come out in July next year.

According to the Hobbit website, production of the the trilogy has so far cost US$561 million. “An Unexpected Journey” took in just over US$1 billion at the box office.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Hobbit’ fever beats Tom Cruise at box office

LOS ANGELES – The dwarfs and elves of “The Hobbit” overpowered Tom Cruise to take the box office title for a second time, grabbing $37.6 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales as a crowd of new films fought for pre-holiday audiences.

Cruise’s crime drama “Jack Reacher,” a film about a fatal sniper attack, landed in second place with $15.6 million. In third place, adult comedy “This is 40″ pulled in $12 million, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters on Sunday.

Domestic ticket sales for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” fell by about 57 percent during the film’s second weekend. Movie receipts typically drop 40 percent to 60 percent each week.

In international markets, “Hobbit” sales reached $284 million and brought the movie’s global take to $434 million, distributor Warner Bros. said.

“The Hobbit” is the first of three movies based on the classic J.R.R. Tolkien novel set in the fantasy world of Middle Earth. The films, produced by MGM and Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema, are prequels to the blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” franchise that brought in box office gold a decade ago.

Producers of “The Hobbit” and other films hope to enjoy a big boost this week around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The current crop will face competition starting on Tuesday, Christmas Day, from Quentin Tarantino’s Western “Django Unchained,” musical “Les Miserables” and comedy “Parental Guidance.”

Sales over the coming days are expected to push 2012 to a domestic box office record. The year is on track to finish with $10.8 billion worth of ticket sales in the North American (U.S. and Canadian) market, according to a projection from box office tracker Hollywood.com. The current record is $10.6 billion, set in 2009.

Over the weekend, “Jack Reacher” debuted just days after the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting sparked new debate about the impact of movie violence. “Reacher” begins with a sniper killing a handful of seemingly random victims. A red-carpet premiere and a screening to promote the $60-million production were postponed after the Newtown tragedy.

“We opened pre-Christmas with our eyes wide open,” said Don Harris, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution, adding that he expected the film’s box office take to grow over the coming weeks. He said the Newtown shooting had “no effect” on the movie’s opening.

Before the weekend, the studio had predicted sales of $12 million to $15 million.

Adult comedy “This is 40″ stars Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as a middle-aged couple. The studio billed the $35 million production from “Bridesmaids” producer Judd Apatow as a “sort-of sequel” to 2007 comedy “Knocked Up.”

The president of domestic distribution for Universal, Nikki Rocco, said the film exceeded the studio’s estimates for opening prior to a mid-week Christmas, and dismissed talk of a Judd Apatow slump since his comedy “Bridesmaids,” which opened to $26.3 million in May 2011.

“Adults have choices at this time of year,” Rocco said, citing the broad slate of films already on

offer and those opening on Christmas day.

Comedy “The Guilt Trip,” starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as a mother and son on a cross-country drive, pulled in $5.4 million over three days. The movie opened two days before the weekend, on Wednesday, scoring a five-day total of $7.4 million.

Also this weekend, Walt Disney Co re-released 2001 animated Pixar hit “Monsters Inc” in 3D. The movie earned $5 million at domestic theaters. Next June, Disney is releasing a prequel to the film called “Monsters University.”

Another new release, the 3D “Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away,” with performances by the famous acrobatic troupe, earned $2.1 million.

In five theaters in New York and Los Angeles, thriller “Zero Dark Thirty” about the hunt for Osama bin Laden grossed $410,000 in what box office analyst for Hollywood.com Paul Dergarabedian

described as a “huge limited release start for the film.”

The movie, considered an Oscar contender, will expand nationwide on January 11.

“The Hobbit” was distributed by Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros. studio. Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, released “Jack Reacher,” “The Guilt Trip” and “Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away.” Comcast Corp’s Universal Studios released “This is 40,” and Sony Corp’s film studio distributed “Zero Dark Thirty.”

source: interaksyon.com