Payout may help Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson

New Line Cinema's decision to make a landmark payout to veteran Hollywood producer Saul Zaentz over claims against Lord of the Rings profits may boost the chances of settlement of a similar claim by New Zealand director Peter Jackson, an industry commentator says.

Zaentz sued the studio last year for US$20 million ($29.3 million) he said was owed from Lord of the Rings profits.

Jackson separately sued the studio in March, and is thought to be claiming US$100 million.

Jackson, who became the industry's highest-paid director with a US$20 million deal to remake King Kong, has made a claim against New Line over box office receipts from The Fellowship of the Ring, as well as merchandising of DVDs, computer games and merchandise, such as rubber elf ears, hobbit pipes and swords.
The entertainment news television channel E! reported on its website that New Line was now expected to resolve the lawsuit brought by Jackson.

The New York Times reported at the time that Jackson's lawyers said he had been underpaid by as much as US$100 million for the trilogy.

Jackson spent eight years adapting Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books into the movie franchise. Forbes magazine reported that Jackson earned US$125 million as director and producer of the three films, while Jackson's own lawyers said he had so far been paid almost US$200 million.

Zaentz, who controlled the film rights to the J. R. R. Tolkien novels for more than two decades, alleged New Line cheated him out of US$20 million from Jackson's blockbuster trilogy - despite having already received US$168 million in royalties from the studio.

The agreement between New Line - owned by Time Warner - and the 84-year-old movie and music mogul was brokered early last month after some intense bargaining between the parties ahead of a scheduled July 19 jury trial, the Times newspaper in London reports.

Spokesmen for New Line and the Saul Zaentz Company confirmed the settlement, but declined to say how much would be paid.

Jackson's publicist in New Zealand said the director was highly unlikely to make any comment.

Hollywood is entangled in complex royalty deals that are a result of producers passing projects on to others while retaining profit-sharing rights.

According to entertainment magazine Variety, the settlement has made Zaentz the highest-paid producer for a film franchise that he did not produce.

The 84-year-old impresario bought the rights to Tolkien's trilogy in the mid-70s.

* Saul Zaentz is a revered figure in Hollywood, responsible for relatively few films over the years even though almost every one has been wildly successful - everything from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1976, to Amadeus (1984) and The English Patient (1995). His acquisition of JRR Tolkien's trilogy led to an unsuccessful cartoon version of the first of the three Lord of the Rings books in 1978, after which it became received wisdom in the film industry that the trilogy was well-nigh unfilmable.

- NZPA, STAFF REPORTER