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Producer's Return of the Bling
Just call him Lord of the Bling.
Saul Zaentz, the veteran Hollywood producer behind such Oscar-winning flicks as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The English Patient, has reached a settlement with New Line Cinema in his $20 million lawsuit over profits from The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Zaentz, who controlled the film rights to the J.R.R. Tolkien novels for more than two decades, sued the studio in 2004, alleging New Line cheated him out of $20 million from Peter Jackson's blockbuster franchise despite having already received a whopping $168 million in royalties from the studio.
According to Daily Variety, the agreement between the Time Warner-owned mini-major 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.
No word exactly how much cash New Line agreed to pony up. Reps for New Line and the Saul Zaentz Company confirmed the settlement, but refused to divulge specifics about the agreement.
However you cut it, Zaentz's latest payday combined with his original $168 million check marks the biggest handout ever to a producer for a movie series he had no role in actually making--not even his name is in the credits. Zaentz instead operated from way behind the scenes, selling his film rights to Miramax and then eventually New Line, which eventually forged ahead with production.
Zaentz first purchased the rights to Rings in the late 1970s. He received a producer credit for Ralph Bakshi's much loathed 1978 cartoon adaptation, but then sat on the film rights for another 20 years, when Miramax approached him about doing a live-action Rings after he and the studio teamed for a Best Picture win in 1996 with English Patient.
When that version stalled, Miramax honchos Harvey and Bob Weinstein licensed the rights to New Line chief Bob Shaye, who, impressed with Jackson's pitch, agreed to make what was considered a big gamble by agreeing to shoot all three Rings films at once.
Unlike the Weinsteins, Zaentz didn't receive an executive producer credit. But he did secure a share of the back-end profit for giving up the rights. With the trilogy grossing an Orc-sized $2.9 billion in worldwide ticket sales, that's a pretty big windfall.
Zaentz's suit accused New Line of using some tricky math to shortchange him. By his own calculations, Zaentz claimed he was owed an additional $20 million. He also sought $700,000 in compensatory damages.
With Zaentz now out of the way, New Line can get down to resolving another Rings-based suit brought by Jackson and producing partner/wife Fran Walsh, who filed their own multimillion-dollar lawsuit in March claiming the studio stiffed them on royalties related to Rings' home video and merchandising riches.
Although that suit is still pending, it's not like the New Zealand-based filmmaker is struggling to pay the bills. Jackson pocketed $20 million upfront from Universal along with a share of what's certain to be boffo box office for his remake of King Kong, which hits theaters Dec. 17.
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