A Great Wailing and Gnashing of Nerd Teeth

And lo, the geeks did howl and scream and gibber, throwing their 20-sided dice at the walls and ripping the heads off their Frodo action figures, which was fine, because they were already out of the box and weren't MOC anymore.

Peter Jackson Says he Won't be Making "Hobbit"

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -
Peter Jackson says he will not be directing a movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel "The Hobbit" or a planned prequel to "The Lord of the Rings."

In a letter posted Tuesday on Theonering.com., Jackson and partner Fran Walsh said an executive from New Line Cinema had called to tell them the studio was moving ahead with "The Hobbit" without him.

"Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken (Kamins, Jackson's manager) and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on `The Hobbit' and the LOTR `prequel,'" the 45-year-old New Zealand director wrote.

"This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects," he said.

[...]

The announcement came amid an ongoing dispute between Wingnut Films and New Line Cinema over the amount Jackson was paid for "The Fellowship of the Ring," including DVD payments.

While Jackson hasn't said how much he believes he was underpaid, The New York Times last year quoted his lawyers as saying it was as much as $100 million. He is suing New Line Cinema over the shortfall.

The Dominion Post newspaper quoted Jackson as saying that because he and Walsh didn't want to discuss upcoming movies "until the lawsuit is resolved, the studio is going to have to hire another director."

"We are very sorry our involvement with `The Hobbit' has ended this way," the pair added.

Plans for Jackson to make a $128 million movie version of the sci-fi video game "Halo" were also scrapped this month after backers 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures pulled out.

Somewhere, little Ricky Santorum is clutching his Gollum plush tightly to his chest, and weeping bitter, bitter tears.

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