'These hugely popular films apparently did not make any profit! We were receiving statements saying that the producers did not owe the Tolkien Estate a dime.' No profit? NONE?! That there is no profit is an outrageous lie. These Hollywood types are nothing but thieves, and I don't blame Tolkien's estate one bit.
Not only that, Jackson is a raving leftist moonbat, so screw him.
He’ll change his mind when Hollywood gives the estate a % of gross.
Once you do the Hobbit and LOTR, what else is there? You can’t do the Silmarillion, unless you’re going to make it into a two-season TV series at least; way too much in there. Nobody’s going to understand where Farmer Giles Of Ham is coming from. The Unfinished Tales is basically the pre-Silmarillion but with different names for the principal characters. Scrap the extended-edition Return Of The King and bring back the Scouring of the Shire?
Christopher Tolkien is 90. I don’t believe he’s ever been a big fan of Hollywood. In time he will pass on, a new person will be in charge of the Tolkien Estate, profits will be “found” and perhaps new films will be made. It is the way of the world.
Time to film the “Wheel of Time” novels. I’m pretty sure Robert Jordan’s widow will play ball.
After watching The Hobbit: Legolas Saves the Day, I can see the estate’s concern.
Historically, the movies studios set up costs and grosses to mach with net so they can prove that they made no profit and pay no taxes.
This is why so many of the stars get their money up front, as do the more popular writers.
The rest of it is setup in the exact same manner as the Broadway production in “The Producers”. (Gene and Zero version)
“After what you did to the Hobbit? Are you kidding?”
The last Hobbit movie was little more than a string of endless chase scenes.
I only blame them for signing a contract for a percentage of the net rather than gross.
Hollywood is very good about charging the costs of their flops against the income of their blockbusters and having subsidiaries vastly overcharging the main studio for equipment rental, services, production costs and advertising.
The only way for a movie to make money (while the studio is raking in profits hand over fist) is to have a surprise low-budget blockbuster that didn't have the accountants holding it down and emptying its pockets during production. The LotR series didn't surprise anyone.
Take your fixed fee upfront or take a percentage from the gross. There is no net income for movies in Hollywood.
That's an interesting take. I haven't read LOTR but my friends who are big time fans of the books just loved the screen adaption of LOTR.
Peter is a Kiwi, and his influence can be seen most prominently at the Wellington airport and on Air New Zealand flight safety films, which are a lot of fun. He has beaucoup money from his successes, so good on him. The lawyers for the Tolkien estate didn’t serve their client well for not going for a % of Gross rather than Profit, which we should all know by now can be gerryrigged to be whatever the PTB want it to be. I just find it rather telling how “greedy” a Leftist Moonbat can be by lowballing the benefactor of said Moonbat’s success. (I got no dog in this fight because these movies bored me beyond tears.)
Not only that, but Jackson doesn’t want to. He didn’t want to make Hobbit. But it couldn’t get the funding until he agreed to produce, then there was chaos getting a director so he finally had to step in. And it shows. You can practically smell the burnout coming off the screen. Expect him to make sure the estate doesn’t green light anymore.
I am a huge huge fan of the books, and have read them many times. Enjoyed the movies immensely and while not scrupulously faithful adaptations, I think they stand well on their own.
All that being said, there is so much good fantasy out there that is dying for the “Epic” treatment of a phenomenal talent like jacksons. I would love to see Wizards First Rule, Wheel of Time, Farseer, Anything by Raymond Feist and or David Gemmell, R.A. Salvatore (Drizzt Do’Urden) and so many many more. Obviously there is a huge market for true fantasy stories done right on the big screen. They don’t need to keep beating the tolkien horse.
They signed a percentage-of-net contract? That’s barely one step above buying a deed to the Brooklyn Bridge or sending your banking data to a Nigerian prince.
I don’t know that he is that leftist. But they have ridden that ride for a long time. I am holding out for the Director’s Cut before I make my decision on the whole thing.
“Net profits” in Hollywood are known as “monkey points.” And monkey points are what the vast majority of Hollywood contracts contain. Only the rarest and most elite participants in any movie receive “gross points” - and even then, there are many different definitions of “gross.”
Hollywood has very creative accounting, they never make any profits.
They have lefty privilege
Maybe the IRS should look into it.