Just a few years ago, New Line Cinema seemed poised to rule the cinematic world. Their Lord of the Rings trilogy had just blockbusted its was to box office records, and swept a huge pool of Academy Awards. Now, after such failed attempts to recapture that magic as last year's Golden Compass movie, New Line has been absorbed into Warner Brothers. Its run as an independent studio has ended after forty years, now existing only as a small genre branch of Warner.

The move will cost the jobs of the majority of the 600 employees of the studio—including Bob Shaye, the subject of some notoriety recently due to his long, heated legal battles with Peter Jackson over LOTR royalties. Shaye and business partner Michael Lynne are in talks to maintain a professional relationship with the company in some capacity.

Though the studio made over a billion dollars worldwide from Return of the King alone, its only breakout hit since then has been 2005's Wedding Crashers, with last year's Rush Hour 3 and Hairspray doing moderately well, but most of their pictures—like the expensive Golden Compass—have been duds.

As for the future of The Hobbit, New Line reps say that, for now, the movie's future is secure. Guillermo del Toro is still in talks to direct, though shooting won't begin until he's hired for sure and Jackson wraps up his next film, The Lovely Bones. The pair of Hobbit films—an extension of the earlier Rings trilogy—is currently slated for release around Christmas 2011 and 2012.

In other movie news:

Gregory Ellwood previews Prince Caspian (MSN)
Critic catches advance footage, says new film is more like Lord of the Rings

Creationism documentary draws early criticism (Orlando Sentinel)
Critic says Expelled is a "rabble-rouser," others call it "pure propaganda"

Doc features Down syndrome boy's Bar Mitzvah (Jerusalem Post)
Praying with Lior playing primarily to Jewish audiences

Vatican newspaper condemns No Country, Blood (CNA)
But praises Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody

Marion Cotillard joins cast of Public Enemies (The Hollywood Reporter)
Recent Oscar winner teams with Depp, Bale in Michael Mann thriller

Ridley Scott turns to Reagan-Gorbachev summit (The Guardian)
Director still undecided who to cast in lead roles

Hank Azaria, Amy Adams in for Night at the Museum 2 (MTV)
Playing a wicked Pharaoh and Amelia Earhart, respectively

Three join Scorsese's Shutter Island (The Hollywood Reporter) (MTV)
Mortimer, Van Sydow, Haley starring alongside DiCaprio

New Star Trek bumped from Christmas to May 2009 (Variety)
Release date pushed back with film behind schedule

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins set for May 2009 (Variety)
Fourth film in franchise, starring Christian Bale, gets a release date

"The Joker" endorses Hilary Clinton for President (AP)
Nicholson's popular film characters give her the thumbs up

Dutch PM warns of attacks due to anti-Islam film (Reuters)
Prime minister fears backlash from movie's broadcast

© Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Read more  'News'

				Try 3 Issues of Christianity Today FREE! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Christianity Today as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

Subscribe to the FREE CT at the Movies Newsletter:    RSS Feed   RSS Help