The Frodo Franchise by Kristin Thompson
 
« »

September 9 : 2009

Will MGM sell its Hobbit distribution rights?

Last month I posted concerning MGM’s current financial woes and restructuring. At the time, I speculated that MGM might eventually need to sell off its distribution rights to The Hobbit film as part of its struggle to pay off its debts.

Not surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one. In reporting the settlement of the Tolkien Trust lawsuit, Variety’s article (expanded since I linked to it yesterday) added this remark: “With MGM undergoing a financial restructuring, speculation has grown in recent months that MGM might sell off the rights in order to help ease the burden from its massive debt load.” Given the stellar year it has been having, Warner Bros. would probably be in the bidding for those rights and might well be successful in obtaining them.

« »

    The Frodo Franchise
    by Kristin Thompson

    US flagbuy at best price

    Canadian flagbuy at best price

    UK flagbuy at best price

    Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
    hardcover 978-0-520-24774-1
    421 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 12 color illustrations; 36 b/w illustrations; 1 map; 1 table

    “Once in a lifetime.”
    The phrase comes up over and over from the people who worked on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. The film’s 17 Oscars, record-setting earnings, huge fan base, and hundreds of ancillary products attest to its importance and to the fact that Rings is far more than a film. Its makers seized a crucial moment in Hollywood—the special effects digital revolution plus the rise of “infotainment” and the Internet—to satisfy the trilogy’s fans while fostering a huge new international audience. The resulting franchise of franchises has earned billions of dollars to date with no end in sight.

    Kristin Thompson interviewed 76 people to examine the movie’s scripting and design and the new technologies deployed to produce the films, video games, and DVDs. She demonstrates the impact Rings had on the companies that made it, on the fantasy genre, on New Zealand, and on independent cinema. In fast-paced, compulsively readable prose, she affirms Jackson’s Rings as one the most important films ever made.

    The Frodo Franchise

    cover of Penguin Books’ (NZ) edition of The Frodo Franchise, published September 2007. The tiny subtitle reads: “How ‘The Lord of the Rings’ became a Hollywood blockbuster and put New Zealand on the map.”