3 Years After New Line Was Gutted, Ready To Become WB Library Brand
I hate to splash a little reality juice over Deadline’s as-dictated-by-Jeff-Robinov spin on New Line’s fate at WB, but it doesn’t take a studio chief to know that New Line was never really an 8-film-a-year proposition for WB. Within months of bringing over some bodies from Robertson Blvd, the staff started being pared down. And after going through the backlog of already-produced New Line product in 2008 and 2009, 2010 saw WB release just 4 New Line-generated films, one of which was a sequel (S&TC) and one of which was an attempted reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street. And again, 4 films are on the schedule for 2011, including 2 more sequels and just 2 originals. There is also a Walden-backed sequel, in 3D, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, that will liekly be released by WB distribution, whether or not the New Line brand is attached.
If the studio and Steve Carrell ever decided on a director Burt Wonderstone, which was intended to be shooting now, I can’t find any information towards that end.
So that leaves Rock of Ages and The Hobbit(s) as the only significant non-sequel product that WB seems committed to moving forward on.
Sounds like WB is finally shuttering NL, as they intended to from the start, and Toby Emmerich is getting a producing pact that will let him get paid on future sequels and Rock of Ages, keep an office, etc.
Do the math. Toby Emmerich was given a contract in late February/early March of 2008. 3 years ago. Time’s up.
Or can you believe the hype… that this is some urgent shift in plans… oy.
Meanwhile, Shaye & Lynne’s Unique Features got Elf up on Broadway… and it’s now gone. The only other project of their announced slate that still has a little heat under it is a Barry Levinson version of the Larry Gelbart muscial City of Angels. We’ll see.
Oh, how I love show business.
I’m sure nobody is sadder about the fall of New Line than Noah Emmerich’s acting career.
HOBBIT may not be, strictly speaking, a sequel, but it’s hardly original, either.
“Sounds like WB is finally shuttering NL, as they intended to from the start”
Don’t you think they would have pulled the trigger on it years ago if that was the case? Eight movies or four, Hobbit and Rock of Ages,e tc are huge projects and don’t sound like the types that get mounted in soon-to-be-closed shops. We know the NL will last at least for a couple more years and who’s to say what will happen afterward, after the current projects take off or fail to.
Even if they did keep NL around just for the sake of The Hobbit, who knows what will happen to it in the future? The fact that they even consider making more movies there tells me the studio may survive yet.
And maybe WB finally will treat it appropriately as a specialty label it always was anyway.
New Line likes to shed staff before they release Tolkien movies.
The biggest audience reaction at my press screening of THE RITE was the New Line logo morphing into the WB one.
all the Journey 2 production vehicles had PROPERTY OF NEW LINE CINEMA signs all over them, which was odd i thought they stopped existing a few years back.
What about the Byran Singer-directed JACK THE GIANT KILLER? Is that something WB means to shutter?
Have the started shooting Jack?
Understand, shuttering New Line doesn’t mean that they have to dump any of the properties. They just slide to WB.
And Proman, I repeat… there were two full years of product to be shepherded and stuff in development that was attractive to WB. Those shelves are now, mostly, cleared. Plus, they wanted some comfort zone on Hobbit, though that has become a non-issue. Hobbit is not New Line dependent at all. The big studio has all the control.
Rock of Ages could be a very big project, but the question is whether they need Tobey or a new contract for him and for others around him, plus associated expenses, to make the project go. Tobey as a producer will cost them a lot… just not as much.
Ironically, the first year of NL product in particular, saved WB from having a very mediocre year. And if history is an indication, NL will close in all but a log and Rock of Ages will be a mega-smash, causing guys like me to wonder why they shut down New Line again.
Don’t know if they’ve started shooting Jack or not. I don’t think so. The only reason I mentioned it is because, as it’s a huge 150+ million dollar movie, it seems like a significant non-sequel alongside ROCK OF AGES and THE HOBBIT. It’s lack of mention above made it seem like something that was likely to get backburnered by WB (or, at least, something you’d heard might get backburnered).
Bryan Singer seemed adamant enough about making the film to make it his priority for what seems like a few years now. Not that it means it means anything definite.
Fair enough, Woody.
Think is, we’re talking about it as Bryan’s priority, not Tobey’s. The line between what is NL’s an what is WB’s is already razor thin.
Rock of Ages is getting enough hype to keep NL/WB in the news for a long time; Cruise was just signed and Shankman is going after Anne Hathaway and Alec Baldwin, as well. The movie starts real work in May.
Meanwhile, the Broadway show is drawing huge crowds at the Pantages (including the above named stars)I predict the movie will be huge.
Was Toby Emmerich ever a production chief? Richard Brener has always been the wonderful brains behind New Line in the wake of De Luca. It’s amazing how a soundtrack exec gets christened as a development exec. That leaves hope for anyone to ever run a studio.
Also, how do you screw up Sex and the City 2? I mean, releasing it on Memorial Day was murder plus it was never suppose to be “Sex and the Desert”
Judy… doing Rock of Ages or The Hobbit doesn’t require a division.
Johnson… not really looking to readjudicate the NL mess. There are those who put some of the biggest flops on Brener… some who love him.
And the downfall of many an exec has not been the movie sucking, but the price tag on something that seemed precious getting way out of hand.
Sex & the City 1 opened May 30, 2008. Worked well as counter-programming the week after Indy 4; its only direct competition opening was The Strangers.
S&TC2 was only against Prince of Persia, an action movie not many were excited about. They could’ve equalled $$ what S&TC1 did if it had been a remotely good movie.