Yesterday I posted the article quoting SCI FI’s interview with New Line studio head Robert Shaye when he went on and blasted Peter Jackson for the lawsuit he has brought against the studio and was quoted saying, “I don’t care about Peter Jackson anymore. He wants to have another $100 million or $50 million, whatever he’s suing us for. He doesn’t want to sit down and talk about it. He thinks that we owe him something after we’ve paid him over a quarter of a billion dollars. … Cheers, Peter.”
Well, Ain’t It Cool News has Jackson and his production company’s response to the interview. It reads as follows:
Our issue with New Line Cinema has only ever been about their refusal to account for financial anomalies that surfaced from a partial audit of The Fellowship of the Ring. Contrary to recent comments made by Bob Shaye, we attempted to discuss the issues raised by the Fellowship audit with New Line for over a year but the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative. This has compelled us to file a lawsuit to pursue our contractual rights under the law. Nobody likes taking legal action, but the studio left us with no alternative.
For over two years, New Line has denied us the ability to audit The Two Towers and The Return of the King, despite repeated requests. Film auditing is a common and straightforward practice within the industry and we don’t understand why New Line Cinema has taken this position.
In light of these circumstances, I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to be involved in New Line Cinema’s 40th Anniversary video. I have never discussed this video with any of the cast of The Lord of the Rings. The issues that Bob Shaye has with the cast pre-date this law suit by many years.
Fundamentally, our legal action is about holding New Line to it’s contractual obligations and promises. It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make it personal. I have always had the highest respect and affection for Bob and other senior management at New Line and continue to do so.”
I will say it sounds like something fishy is going on over at New Line, but I was recently asked by someone, “Why wouldn’t they just open the books?” The answer is simple… If they open the books to Jackson and a discrepancy is found, which it seems is entirely likely, it opens the door for every single filmmaker that has worked or will work with New Line to look into their dealings with the studio, which is listed as the distributer for over 500 films by IMDB. Now that is a lot of books to look at.
