Peter Jackson vs. New Line
"Bizarre." That's how director James Cameron refers to New Line's reluctance to submit to the audit (Cameron will be shooting his Avatar at Jackson's elaborate filmmaking facility, which Jackson paid for with his Rings money, in Wellington, New Zealand, this summer). Cameron adds that Fox, the company with which he's had a 20-year history, "has always been very transparent financially. It's almost automatic that you do an audit." Admitting that he's speaking out of turn, Cameron intimates that the easiest explanation for New Line's behavior is that it has something to hide. But when you factor in how much money could be made on The Hobbit and another prequel (there's a span of about 60 years between the book and Rings, which I'd imagine Jackson would have a field day fleshing out), we're talking about hundreds of millions of potential profit, if the previous films are any indication.
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