Posted on 11/20/2006 11:37:38 PM PST by MadIvan
I don't see the movies as depicting Frodo as a victim or a failure. He stood strong against the alluring power of the ring, and he succeeded in throwing it into the fire even in the face of Gollum's final attempt. Frodo was the perfect symbol of strength foiling the desperate, conniving acts perpetrated by the perfect symbol of weakness, Gollum.
He (Christopher) sounds like a stuck-up, pseudo-intellectual elitist.
That's pretty much what I think he is :~)
Tolkien probably did not have great business acumen, Quix. I think it may not have been important to him. For instance, when The Hobbit was a success as a children's book, his publisher requested a sequel. Tolkien came up with the sequel all right, but 16 years later, after WWII, and as an adult's book!
At some point, in the 50's I think, or early 60's, he sold the movie rights for a couple hundred grand (if memory serves), which, as a college professor of philology, he probably regarded as a handsome sum. Plus, I'm sure he had no idea that so many millions would eventually be made from either his books or the movies.
He did express a wish that the movie not be made by Disney.
Christopher may well be a stuck up elitist, but he did at least serve as an RAF pilot during WWII, I have read. Don't know exactly what that may have entailed, but it sounds dangerous.
Any active pilot during WWII was no woos. Kudos and thanks to him for serving.
I have to stick up for Jackson here. It's the principle of the thing. Hollywood is notorious for stiffing actors and directors of the cut. Alot of them will take a reduced salary in exchange for a cut of the profits. It's a risk for them because if the movie tanks, they don't get paid. But then the studio will use creative accounting to pretend there are no profits.
A studio exec takes a college buddy out to lunch, and that goes against the "profits" of the picture. Security guards at the studio where it wasn't filmed get charged to the movie. All sorts of creative ways to screw the talent. If Jackson signed a contract for a cut of merchandise etc and they stiffed him, they should pay him. Period.
Interesting.
I thought I heard once that his estate withheld movie rights until they were convinced it would be done well.
Ah well, what do I know! LOL.
Thanks.
Blessings this Thanksgiving to you and yours.
I bet they are in talks with Uwe Boll.
Wouldn't that be something?
mmmmm... disheartening. Well, I hope it works out. And I hope that whoever does it, does it right. The books are classics and they don't deserve to be hollyweirded.
...Jackson, who earned $200 million from the franchise, according to his lawyers, believes that he is due millions more from merchandising, video and computer games sales income.
"Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know."
Latest news indicates that indeed Sam Raimi has been approached about making The Hobbit...
....any plans to read the books on your own??
Not a chance. Got better things to read.
I think one of the most famous incidents of this is Forrest Gump, which, IIRC, made no profit. The writer made nothing.
For the record, I really worry about Peter Jackson directing The Hobbit. It has to be of a very different tone. Even with some of the problems with Jackson's presentation (and I think by the time they were doing film 3, they could have added a scouring of the Shire version to a special DVD edition) it was a labor of love. He wasn't just a guy doing a movie.
Well, speaking of tone differences. The narration was light and breezy in the hobbit. The tone itself just in the books was alot different. The narrator of the hobbit is playful, like telling a yarn about the days long ago. Even though there are battles and the like, it's more sweet spirited and positive.
Exactly. This is the way The Hobbit has to be, much more of a children's story. Jackson could do the wonder of it, but it should be a real children's film: fast-paced and no grand vistas.
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