"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." - Robert Shaye, New Line CEO
Ouch! And if the Rosie and Donald Trump feud wasn't enough...
SciFi.com (http://www.scifi.com) recently spoke with New Line Cinema's CEO Robert Shaye who vows that Peter Jackson will never do another New Line Cinema movie again, which ends all hopes that Jackson will be involved with "The Hobbit" or any other "Lord of the Rings" projects that the studio may be working on. Shaye says that it is because of Peter Jackson's lawsuit against New Line over profit disputes regarding "The Fellowship of the Ring."
"There's a kind of arrogance," he continues. "Not that I don't think Peter is a good filmmaker and that he hasn't contributed significantly to filmography and made three very good movies. And I don't even expect him to say 'thank you' for having me make it happen and having New Line make it happen. But to think that I, as a functionary in [a] company that has been around for a long time, but is now owned by a very big conglomerate, would care one bit about trying to cheat the guy, ... he's either had very poor counsel or is completely misinformed and myopic to think that I care whether I give him [anything]."
While the lawsuit was filed years ago after the trilogy made its run in theaters, the war of words started when Jackson revealed to TheOneRing.net (http://www.theonering.net) that while MGM and New Line are currently working out rights issues to get "The Hobbit" made, all plans for him to get on board seemed but a slight possibility.