More On Shaye’s & Lynne’s New Company

COMMENTS (8)

• These developments have inspired me to sing…

  Welcome Back Robert
  (to the tune of “Welcome Back Kotter”)

  Welcome back,
  Your deals got you booted out.

  Welcome back,
  To start over again and get laughed about.

  Well New Line sure has changed since you hung around,
  In fact the whole company’s burned to the ground.

  Who’d have thought fate’d lead ya
  (Who’d have thought fate’d lead ya)
  Where Nikki Finke needs ya
  (Where all bloggers need ya)

  So we can tease you a lot ’bout the lawsuits you got, welcome back,
  Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

  Comment by Furious D — Friday June 6, 2008 @ 3:10pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Ridiculous. So basically this is a “You’re fired, but you can still work here” situation? Warner Bros. doesn’t actually care about CHANGING anything about New Line, they just don’t want so many people working there. Got it.

  Comment by Old Line Cinema — Friday June 6, 2008 @ 3:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

• what exactly is the “ex president of a studio special”?

  Comment by curious — Friday June 6, 2008 @ 4:11pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Over the decades, Bob and Michael were responsible for far more hits than misses. I prefer to remember how they backed daring filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson and Peter Jackson, distinctive projects like Wag the Dog, Lord of the Rings, and Boogie Nights and they went to the mat for bold executives and artists. And, while I saw Warners name all over the recent coverage touting the success of Sex and the City, that was a Bob and Michael play all the way. They still have the touch and I wouldn’t bet against them.

  Comment by Chaya Fridays — Friday June 6, 2008 @ 7:44pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Bob needing a yes-man in Toby Emmerich is what has undercut New Line’s success in recent years, but the guy has the “vision thing” that so many people lack these days– including former rival Harvey Weinstein. The irony that Bob’s going to be handling things from the 9th floor of 116 N. Robertson while Toby flounders for purchase a few floors below is not lost on anyone.

  Comment by Jack Burton — Friday June 6, 2008 @ 9:38pm PDT  Reply to this post

• WB please fire Toby Emmerich and his Disco, Brown bafoons!! They are cancer to New Line. Free New Line from further oblivion!!! Oh yeah and bring back the Hot Dog Dude on Robertson.

  Comment by JackTheRipper — Saturday June 7, 2008 @ 3:46am PDT  Reply to this post

• “bafoons”?

  Comment by Fielding Mellish — Saturday June 7, 2008 @ 11:19am PDT  Reply to this post

• Seems odd that Michael gets so much credit and blame in all this. The guy plays golf and handles money. He delivers incredibly uncharismatic speeches at company functions and then disappears back into the New York offices, where Kaufman keeps his shoes well shined. If there was a real leader of the company, or at least someone who was supposed to be leading the company, it was Bob.

  Bob has, on occasion, displayed the “vision thing”, but less and less over the years, and more than anything in terms of allowing himself to eventually be swayed by executives exhibiting true vision at the time, most notably De Luca, Ordesky, Brener, and Boyter (name the New Line movies you treasure and you can trace it to one of these four winning a war with Bob to get it done). His best legacy will probably be hiring people who were able to convince him to make inspired projects. Unfortunately, this legacy ended with the promotion of Toby.

  Bob at least has a “gut”, an opinion, and a love for movies, three things that Toby has never been able to lay real claim to. New Line fell because Toby spent years placating Bob on the wrong things. When he did actually assert himself, it was fighting to sway Bob into doing really wretched projects. He managed to keep his job every year based on sequel successes from franchises he didn’t originate (Austin Powers, Rush Hour, LOTR), and because Bob wasn’t willing to risk having another person in the position who would challenge him the way Mike used to.

  More hits than misses? Not by a long shot. When there were hits, they were big hits, and they covered for a lot of misses. Toby’s batting average had to be one of the worst in studio head history with maybe one hit a year at best and MAYBE one or two more profitable films per year beyond that. The rest of the 6-8 movies (if they could even manage to organize themselves to make that many) per year ranged from “unmitigated disaster” to “possible break-even after third DVD repackaging”.

  The saddest thing is that a studio that was known for its bold moves was brought down by a lot of scared guys who made decisions out of self interest and ridiculous numbers from circle-jerk P&Ls rather than reasons either artistically or commercially inspired. Toby, Rolf, Russell, and Tuckerman were all only in it for themselves in the short term, and it was this sort of mentality that made for six years of lame slates, unchecked egos, and no accountability, and that’s what put 600 mostly decent people who mostly loved that company out of work.

  If Bob still had the “vision thing”, he would have seen this coming.

  Comment by Town & Country — Saturday June 7, 2008 @ 3:23pm PDT  Reply to this post