According to the Associated Press the estate of writer J.R.R. Tolkien have filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles against New Line Cinema, claiming that they have as yet received no money from the movie adaptation of Lord of the Rings. They are seeking $150 million in compensation and the right to cancel New Line’s right to produce any further Tolkien works in movie form. If they were to win their case this would clearly leave an already struggling company on the brink of ruin. This litigation can only throw more doubt on the possibility that there will be sequels to The Golden Compass movie produced. Read the full story here.
Content © 2001-2011 BridgeToTheStars.Net.
Images from The Golden Compass movie are © New Line Cinema.
Images from The Golden Compass movie are © New Line Cinema.
It never ends..
Not looking too promising, is it.
its not meant to be…
Pssst, New Line… The HDM rights are not contested… lower the budget, don’t sell the foreign rights, and get to work!
I really do home New Line is pushed out of the way. Sequels to HDM should be given to deserving film companies, not one that tore apart the first film.
Shame, shame.
Aaron, you are so right. New Line didn’t do enough for the Golden Compass. I pray that there will be sequels, but I hope another company does it, because I get the feeling that New Line will sell the rights to the books if their situation gets much worse. Hoping for the best.
i want to be in sequals…. but they might not hold open auditions…
because of this…
i have an idea… they should put the tgc original ending (lyra walking thru the doorway to citagzze) onto a special edition dvd, as an “extra”. so if they dont film the sequels, we still get to see that scene. but, if they do the sequels thnen it will be like a preview. you know how they had the first 5 mins of tgc showing for free on the internet, to get people to want to see the whole movie, well this scene could be the “teaser” for tsk… see what i mean?
Cool idea Liz. Maybe, New Line will want another DVD release (director’s cut} to earn more money.
As for the sequels, they will be made over time.
The last line of the post is pure conjecture.
Not really. It’s fair to assume that someone, somewhere, will eventually adapt the full trilogy…
“Poisoned chalice”
Sure, it’s very likely that you’re right; however, in a news article, it is unnecessary, out of place, and unprofessional to editorialize like that.
omg! what happened to warner taking over!! NL sell the rights!
To Conor:I thought you said New Line were makin the Subtle
Knife
That’s most unfair. New Line introduced a whole new generation to Tolkien. If it hadn’t been for the movies, they would have sold 1/10 of what they’ve sold in the past 7 years.
True that NL introduced the new generation to Tolkien but still the Tolkien estate should get some money out of it. I hope that another company goes on with HDM, as NL did make a mess of it (A REALLY BIG MESS).
If there is a directors cut, for the love of god I hope they change the song in the credits (…Lyra, Lyra… and her soul walks beside her and her face is full of grace…)
I wish Peter Jackson to make another Gonden Compass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, man! That’s harsh. Sure, I didn’t think New Line did the best they could with the GC adaptation, but I didn’t want to see them on… you know, the Eve Of Destruction. These are the people who brought us Rush Hour, after all.
@Grumman: Sure, it’s a whole new world for Frodo et. al. But it’s a whole new world for Lyra, too–literally. I doubt Pullman would be satisfied with just spreading his story to new audiences, and I doubt he would content himself with selling a bunch of merchandise. Go Tolkien!
It may be conjecture Jacob, but we can hardly broadcast that sequels are coming. Nothing wrong with saying what everybody is thinking, when it isn’t offensive.
As goes for sales figures, Grumman, I guess their objection is that they no longer make money on Tolkien’s books – after all – Lord of the Rings is out of copyright, which means they’re making no money on the books. Clearly they’re interested in getting their money back… Unless I’m mistaken in my facts. Can’t really remember…
Copyright continues 50 years after the death of an author. Tolkien died in 1973, they are making money off the books but- newsflash- they probably care more about Tolkiens laegacy and what he would have wanted for his work. The lawsuit is a point of honour. I watched Golden Compass on Saturday. It was a travesty. I felt empty after watching it, the dialogue was excerable, characterisation non-existant and there is no way that the movie looks like it cost $180 million. Fall New Line! like satan falls in Paradise Lost “in hideous ruin and combustion”, how dare they try and foist this rubbish on us.
Who on earth is ‘CC’? Having read HDM and ‘Paradise Lost’ I feel I must say that the film of ‘Northern Lights’ was many light years ahead of any other film I’ve seen recently. Pullman points out that the book takes 12 hours to read aloud, and the film is only 2 hours long. Yes, the end chapter featuring the murder of Roger was left out, but it would have been a terrifying note to finish the first film off with. Far better at the beginning of film 2 (Subtle Knife). As for the dialogue, as a writer f films myself, I thought Weiss did a great job, so THERE,CC! Also, the CGI was great, as was the superb casting. Sam Elliot at Lee Scoresby was brilliant.
PLZ MAKE THE OTHER BOOKS A MOVIE I WANT TO SEE HOW IT END