New Line sinking even lower

After the flap between Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema over millions of dollars he never received for the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy, now, to quote The Hollywood Reporter:

"The Tolkien Trust and the author's original publisher, HarperCollins, claim that New Line has committed "accounting chicanery" by, among other things, inflating the cost of each film in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy by more than $100 million and refusing to allow an audit of the second and third films in the "Rings" series."

"Rings" brought New Line to such a huge level as a major studio, netting obscene box office bank AND many major awards including Best Picture for "Return Of The King"...and yet they can't pay the fucking money they owe to the people who were their own personal Jesus! Assholes!

Jackson won, and so will The Tolkien Trust.

This may very well wreck "The Hobbit" from getting made, although I don't have a major stake in that. I enjoyed the "Rings" movies but never really felt the urge to buy them on DVD.

This from the New Zealand site, stuff.co.nz:

"The plaintiffs are seeking more than $NZ190 million in damages and a court order giving the Tolkien estate the right to terminate any rights New Line may have to make films based on other works by the author, including The Hobbit."

YES! Absolutely! I think everyone involved should just pull the big ol' plug on The Big Studio and let them fall flat on their faces after all this shit. Take it to MGM who are chomping at the bit (with proper respect!) to work with Jackson.

Here's the full Hollywood Reporter article.