I never fail to be disheartened by the inevitable. Just when you get totally sucked into any form of art (music, dance, movies) you’re quickly reminded that it’s nothing more than another business and it’s all just about the money.
Take the amazing Lord of the Rings trilogy. In my mind, the most incredible achievement in film history (I still personally maintain that Return of the King is the single greatest film ever made). It was just a year ago that Officials at New Line where praising Peter Jackson for his accomplishment, and Peter Jackson was gushing over New Line, thanking them endlessly for their support. Well boys and girls, time to snap back to reality. It’s a business… and where theres big money, there are big fights.
CNN is reporting that Peter Jackson has filed a lawsuit against New Line for unpaid profits from the Lord of the Ring. Here’s an excerpt from the article:One of the principal claims of the suit is that Time Warner Inc.-owned New Line engaged in various forms of “self-dealing” with affiliated companies, an issue that has been vigorously pursued by plaintiffs attorney Stanton “Larry” Stein.
It seeks unspecified damages, restitution and an order barring New Line from striking any more deals without seeking the most competitive and beneficial terms from unaffiliated third parties. The case stems from a 1998 written agreement for Wingnut and New Line to jointly produce and distribute the three films. Among other terms, Wingnut got paid a fixed fee and shared in “first dollar” gross receipts.
New Line is accused of improperly deducting certain home video costs that were not spelled out in the agreement, paying an incorrect royalty rate for DVD sales, delaying the reporting of certain licensing revenue and failing to audit subdistributors, including those affiliated with New Line. The latter claim goes to the broader issue of self-dealing, in which Wingnut accuses New Line of allowing its subdistributors to charge a higher fee than would be expected from nonaffiliated companies.On the surface, Jackson looks a little greedy to me. After all, how many millions of dollars did he get from this project already? how much more do you need man?!?! On the other hand, if New Line did do all the things they are accused of doing, then that’s just dirty pool. If you owe Jackson cash… Then pay him his damn cash.
You can read the whole CNN article here. You should go over and give it a read.
