Warner is rolling New Line into WB, and it will no longer be a separate studio.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981598.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Unbelievable. It costs the job of 600 people and the founders will be gone.

Sad news.

I wonder if the New Line Cinema titlescreen will still be there on future movies. And what does it mean for the future titles? Will The Hobbit be released under the Warner brand now? Or are there chances that it will be canceled since Warner doesn't see money in there?

It all happens. Same applies to the the demise of HD DVD, LD etc. 100s of people losing jobs.

Bit surprising really. I guess New Line was losing too much money in the post-LotR era for Time Warner to stomach.

Also I think going to war with Peter Jackson was a really stupid idea. He gave New Line their biggest hit of all time and they gave him the finger. Baka-desu!

Don't forget that New Line is (was? I guess it's WB's problem now) about to get it's clock cleaned by the Tolkien estate.

Maybe Warner is trying to cut it's losses even more by getting rid of people who apparently don't know how to live up to a contract?

Mr Zoid

Maybe Warner are just trying to protect New Line from all us angry Freddy fans, lol! (In case you haven't heard, they're remaking A Nightmare On Elm Street and they're not casting Robert Englund as Freddy!!! :eek: :mad:)

next .... GE sells Universal to Sony?

next .... GE sells Universal to Sony?

Nope . . .

Universal Clinches Billion-Dollar Deal

Marking one of the biggest movie-financing deals in Hollywood history, Relativity Capital has agreed to put up more than $1 billion to finance at least 75 percent of Universal Pictures films through 2011, published reports said today (Thursday). Daily Variety said that the deal would "funnel billions into the studio's slate." The Los Angeles Times observed that the deal, which is expected to cover about 45 films, will allow Universal to shift its focus away from financing movies to marketing and distributing them. "We always look to manage risk and volatility," Universal executive VP Michael Joe told the Times. "A deal like this allows us to do that while keeping distribution rights to the movies worldwide."

From IMDB News

This seemed the inevitable conclusion, not surprising at all. Most of Hollywood was making bets on when, not if.

Had it not been for the success of LOTR this would have happened years ago. There was serious consideration of it then and it was widely reported pre Fellowship release that Warner had plans to do this if it didn't open strong. So that series bought them some years. If you strip LOTR out of their library, the number of true successes they have had in the last 5+ years is not enough to justify a stand alone studio. It doesn't exceed or even equal some other production companies that exist within studios minus a lot of redundant overhead.

As a shareholder, I applaud this move. And as a fan of quality work, I don't think NL is some great bastion of creativity to protect. Most of what they have produced recently could have gotten done within the major studio system, so I see no reason to believe this will result in us missing out on any great pictures in the future.

I also don't have any sympathy for the ousted heads of NL. They have demonstrated repeatedly that they are self-interested tyrants. Well before the LOTR lawsuits, NL was famous in town for the self-indulgence of its senior execs. For years those guys protected a head of production who they knew first hand was sleeping with under aged girls and throwing drug parties on the company dime and all sorts of junk. They fired underlings who complained about it. These are not good guys. So it wasn't surprising after LOTR rescued their autonomy, they turned around and tried to screw all the people involved so they could keep all the profit. As it is, in typical Hollywood fashion, they will come out of this with millions of dollars and fancy production deals. Hollywood usually rewards its villains. It does suck for the regular Joe’s in the company, but blame their own leaders, not Warner.

Don't forget that New Line is (was? I guess it's WB's problem now) about to get it's clock cleaned by the Tolkien estate.

Saul Zaentz actually owns the rights to LOTR. He's the guy who bought CCR's music royalties out from under them, and sued John Fogerty for copying his own song! Of course, Zaentz lost.

One good thing about this is that all the New Line great catalog titles should hopefully get the full Warner special edition treatment. They make the best catalog SE's of any studio, IMO.

Maybe this will also be the start of New Line actually releasing catalog titles also. Pan's Labyrinth is still the only one, and it really is such a recent film that it's hard to consider it "catalog".

I guess I'll say it first... what's going to happen with the 7.1 mixes? Will they continue?

Unbelievable. It costs the job of 600 people and the founders will be gone.

Sad news.

I wonder if the New Line Cinema titlescreen will still be there on future movies. And what does it mean for the future titles? Will The Hobbit be released under the Warner brand now? Or are there chances that it will be canceled since Warner doesn't see money in there?


welcome to corporate america!

Where a company makes a profit that was not as big as the year prior and people get laid of because of it (I should know as I was on the recieving end of that stick!).

One good thing about this is that all the New Line great catalog titles should hopefully get the full Warner special edition treatment. They make the best catalog SE's of any studio, IMO.

Maybe this will also be the start of New Line actually releasing catalog titles also. Pan's Labyrinth is still the only one, and it really is such a recent film that it's hard to consider it "catalog".

Personally I always felt New Line did great DVD packages. Their movies (at least the ones that I have) always looked immaculate. Warner not always the case.

This isn't too surprising. Their new CEO is charged with turning the whole business around. A quick way is to eliminate duplicate positions, thereby theoretically increasing efficiency.

Didn't it strike anyone as odd that when Warner went Blu-ray, that they said New Line and their other studios would have to make their own announcements, despite those studios not really having a choice in the matter? It seemed sort of wasteful and unnecessary at the time.

Personally I always felt New Line did great DVD packages. Their movies (at least the ones that I have) always looked immaculate. Warner not always the case.

I have never bought a Warner catalog 2-disc SE (or multi-disc in the case of Gone w/ the Wind, Ben-Hur, etc.) that I've been disappointed in.

If only this happened a year ago or two.. then we could of had more New Line titles on HD DVD:p

No Region Code complaints:p

If only this happened a year ago or two.. then we could of had more New Line titles on HD DVD:p

No Region Code complaints:p

Actually HD-DVD got all New Line titles Blu-Ray got. Just not in the US ;)

yeah... heard that. it sucks. and so will the flick. you cant have nightmares without robert. Just like you cant have a superman without criss. its over. did robert even want to play the part? if he did then shame on them. if he didnt then its over and they need to let it go.

two thumbs up for freddy vs. jason though. very fun flick.

Back on topic. The big fish eat the little fish until the big fish cannot sustain themselves anymore and die. I am curious how long its going to be before one of the major studios cease to exist.

I was lucky enough to meet Robert Englund last year! :D I liked Freddy Vs Jason too (although the guy that played Jason was nowhere near as good as Kane Hodder, Kane's "eye acting" at the start of Jason X when hanging on the chains blows away the new Jason's entire performance! I hope they bring Kane back :( ) and I asked him what was happening with the sequel. He told me that it had been greenlit and that they were just waiting for a start date. He also said that it was going to have Michael Myers and Ash from Evil Dead in it! He also mentioned that he's making a sequel to 2001 Maniacs. He seemed really enthusiastic about those movies but I haven't heard anything about them since. :( Warner better not be even thinking about replacing Robert Englund in Freddy vs Jason 2 as well though. If they announced that then I could imagine a news report the next day saying "The head of Warner Brothers was found dead today. The cause of death seems to be from multiple injuries and there were mysterious claw marks found on the body." Lol!