Peter Jackson, the creator of the record-breaking Lord of the Rings trilogy, is to executive produce two Hobbit movies after settling a US$100 million lawsuit with film studio New Line, the studio said Tuesday.
The prequels will be based on the book of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien and will revolve around Bilbo Baggins before he embarks on the Lord of the Rings quest. The films will be shot simultaneously in 2009 and will be released in 2010 and 2011.
"I'm very pleased that we've been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line," Jackson said in a statement.
PHOTO: AP
It's unclear whether Jackson will direct either of the two movies, with the New Line statement saying he and Fran Walsh, his wife and co-producer on the Rings trilogy, will act as executive producer and "manage the production" of Hobbit.
The couple sued New Line in 2005, claiming the studio cooked the books and seriously shortchanged them for a franchise that earned US$3 billion at the worldwide box office and captured 17 Academy Awards, including an 11-category sweep for 2003's Return of the King, the last in the series and the Best Picture Oscar winner.
The People's Choice Awards had the red carpet yanked out from under it Wednesday as fallout from the Hollywood writers' strike grew.
The ceremony, which typically airs live, will be taped for a Jan. 8 telecast, a spokeswoman for the show said. Queen Latifah, who previously was announced as host, will be part of the new format.
"We realize there are pressing issues facing the entertainment industry, including the WGA [Writers Guild of America] strike, and out of respect for everyone involved this provided an opportunity to pilot a new format this year," awards spokeswoman Jeannie Tharrington said.
The show will include pre-recorded acceptance speeches by winners as well as their responses to questions sent in by fans, according to a People's Choice statement.
The "new approach will give fans a more personal glimpse into the lives of their favorite actors and musicians," awards President Fred Nelson said in a statement.
The People's Choice ceremony gives the public the chance to choose its favorite music, television and film entertainment.
With the Screen Actors Guild preparing for its own negotiations with producers next year and stars showing firm support for striking writers, the question has been whether presenters - or even nominees - would show up for an awards show boycotted by writers.
The guild's action is an attempt to bring the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers back to the table and reach a favorable deal on issues that include compensation for digital media, labor experts said.
Prominent awards show director Louis J. Horwitz is returning to direct the Academy Awards, his 12th time running the show for Hollywood's biggest party.
A four-time Emmy winner for his past Oscar telecasts, Horvitz will direct the 80th Oscar telecast, show producer Gil Cates said Wednesday.
Oscar nominations come out Jan. 22, with awards handed out Feb. 24.
This year's Oscars, along with other entertainment honors such as the Golden Globes, approach amid uncertainty because of the writers' strike. If the strike lingers through the awards season, the shows could be left unscripted, and stars might fail to show to avoid crossing picket lines.
Horvitz has directed dozens of other awards shows and specials, including within the last year the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors, the Academy of Country Music Awards and An Evening of Stars: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin.
A cyborg skeleton from Terminator 2: Judgment Day brought in nearly US$500,000 in a Profiles in History auction of Hollywood memorabilia dominated by props and costumes from Arnold Schwarzenegger's sci-fi franchise.
An armored drone went for over US$100,000, and a full-body Terminator model went for about US$75,000. Both items were from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. A full-scale tyrannosaurus rex head from Jurassic Park was the second priciest item of the day, bringing in over US$126,000.
Gentle, kindly Mary Poppins could hardly compete. Julie Andrews' signature gabardine coat from the 1964 film brought in a comparatively modest US$63,250.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist