Apparently, not everyone is looking forward to seeing the new adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Well, for starters, there is a deformed bloke in a village in Peru who keeps getting rocks thrown at him and being called ‘Gollum’ who wishes they would forget the whole idea. Saying that, he still has the entire Lord of The Rings trilogy on DVD – gold edition, too.
Then there’s our housemate Steve, who is just odd. And then there is Tolkien’s 83-year-old son Christopher, who just doesn’t like people enjoying themselves.
You know the kind of old man we are talking about. He’s the neighbour who used to look forward to your ball going over the fence, just so he could drive a pitch fork through it while laughing maniacally.
In fact, according to Film School Rejects, even his his own relatives call him ‘cantankerous’ and doubt if he’s ever even seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy in his life.
So what’s his problem? Well, again, according to Film School Rejects, he wants to shut down filming of the fantasy classic on the grounds New Line Cinema owe him bundles of cash (cue more maniacal laughter).
In fact, he is going to court in California on June 6 to ask that the rights to The Hobbit – which will be split into two films and will now star Ron Perlman – are terminated.
He says the only reason his father sold the rights in the first place was to pay for a tax bill. And now he wants them back.
Now, we at hecklerspray are no legal eagles, but we still don’t see how he has a furry, big foot to stand on.
If you sold something to pay for something else, however annoying, you no longer own it, right?
If not, well, just think of what we could claim back.
Anyway, he is still owed £80m under an agreement which gave the family a 7.5 per cent share of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
And judging by the lengths Peter Jackson had to go to just to get paid by New Line, it’s not surprising he is pretty angry with them.
He also has an ace up his sleeve.
He owns the rights to Tolkien’s novel and LOTR companian The Silmarillion, which director and Hobbit look-a-like Guillermo Del Toro and producer Peter Jackson hope to use while making the second film.
So we are sure something will be sorted out in time for the project to go ahead. At least we know who the REAL Lord of the Rings is.
Phill says
This is not so much a legit endeavour to get the rights back. New Line hasn’t paid the tolkien estate what they are owed for the other 3 films. jackson had to sue them twice for what he was owed in his paycheck. this a legal maneuver to put pressure on new line.
антимаулнетизм says
tolkien will be live forever
Michael Lonergan says
Ron Perlmann. Nice. Now if only we can find a role for Danny Devito.
b-dog says
You have to look at the contract/license for the first three films (I highly doubt that Mr. Tolkien assigned the entire copyright, just the option to make the film). It could be that New Line is in material breach of the agreement by failing to pay. In which case he has a very big furry foot to stand on.
Chris 'Xenon' Hanson says
Chris Tolkien may be a grumpy old coot, but he has a point. If New Line is trying to screw him on royalties owed, like they were doing to Peter Jackson, then he ought to use whatever pointy stick he has to set things right. I want to see The Hobbit as much as the next guy, but I hate seeing the Enron book-cooking crap the movie industry pulls persist. I hoped to see Peter rake them over the coals until the sordid mess was exposed and put to end, but that didn’t happen. Give ’em hell, Chris.
cITIZENx says
How do articles written by bias dipshits like this make it to Digg. He seems to place all his resources on some stupid film school reject website. He should stick to dick & fart jokes in a blog somewhere.
Andrew Kent-Morris says
As an collector and fan all things Tolkien I will say I was absolutely put off from what I had heard of the Hobbit adaptation. The sooner this gets aborted the better I say.
gir says
“How do articles written by bias dipshits like this make it to Digg.”
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the Digg model. First, people who have sold their souls to Satan for an internet connection submit things to Digg. Then, the straitjacketed untrainables that constitute Digg’s readership vote on it, presumably by bashing their helmeted heads into their MilSpec touchscreens.
“He should stick to dick & fart jokes in a blog somewhere.”
That’s pretty much what he does, and frankly you’re ruining my immersion.
Wibble says
“And then there is Tolkien’s 83-year-old son Christopher, who just doesn’t like people enjoying themselves.”
HEY WRITER.. are you somekind of asshole or what?
J.R.R’s legacy BELONGS to his family, and Christopher is the head of Tolkein enterprises… He didn’t get paid for the LOTR and HE’S QUITE RIGHT not to allow The Hobbit to be made if this is how The Tokein legacy is to be used.
Hollywood is in the process of getting all the countries to rewrite their laws, because they feel that WE are using their IP improperly… but now we see that they do THE EXACT SAME THING, only at a far more fundimental level. HYPOCRASY at it’s most sickening.
Screw The Hobbit movie if they aren’t going to do the RIGHT THING.. and I haven’t even mentioned the abomination that the “Hobbit sequel” will (would have, lol) been).
NO HOBBIT MOVIE!!!!!
QUITE RIGHT CHRIS, STICK TO YOUR GUNS!
human3rror says
Too bad. I hope it goes through. It would be a great film.
gir says
Could hecklerspray publish an article about this coffee that I’m drinking? Because it’s so good that I can’t really remember what it tastes like, even seconds after having a sip, but it leaves me with an overall sense of relaxation and well-being.
euclid says
Could hecklerspray publish an article about Milton from Office Space
for once? Bigots.
…or something about credit cards. I recently had mine lifted;
got a bill with all these charges for kitty porn (yup, cats!) and
silly drinks with umbrellas, as well as ticket for 7 to all of some
Latvian football club’s home games.
Oh! Right. Hobbits. Who gives a fuck?
juw1 says
Being selfish, I for one hope The Hobbit is filmed. I LOVED the film of TLOTR and would really like to see The Hobbit – even though I doubt it would be a good.