Toronto Fest Lands World Preem Of Godfrey Reggio’s … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Man Of Steel’ 
Former Digital Domain CEO & Auditors Sued For Fraud By … 
Fox Acquires ‘Narc’; Zac Efron Attached To Play … 
ABC’s ‘Nashville’ Undergoes Production … 
CBS Wins Season & Ties Sweep In Demo; ABC Tops Adults … 
Mike Lobell Adds Cast To ‘Eisner,’ Plots … 
Sony Shares Rise On Report That It Will Consider … 
Alki David Agrees To End Name Games With Aereo And Barry … 
Next-Gen Xbox One Unveiled With Content Including … 
UPDATE: Apple CEO Challenged For Moving “Crown … 
ESPN Layoffs Could Reach 400 As Part Of Latest Disney Cuts 
Cannes: Weinstein Co Acquires Keanu-Reese Sci-Fi Pic … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Up … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Wolverine’ 
Ang Lee Departs FX Pilot ‘Tyrant’ 
How Many Times Does Seth MacFarlane Have To Say No To The … 
Cannes: Stanley Weiser To Script ‘Three Graves … 
Cannes: Deadline Crashes Palais Forum With Costa Gavras, … 
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ $164.5M Global: Lower … 
‘The Great Gatsby’ Starts With $5.4M … 
UPDATE 6:45 PM: Good news. I now am informed that these are the extent of the planned layoffs for New Line.
EXCLUSIVE 5:30 PM: There were 7 layoffs among the 40 employees at New Line in recent days: 2 creatives, 1 lawyer, 1 marketing person, and 3 assistants. One contract wasn’t renewed. Decisions are still pending on what other downsizing will follow. Warner Bros decided last February to reduce New Line’s output from 8 movies a year to just 4 as part of movie boss Jeff Robinov’s plan to cut down on the pics which the studio releases and markets in order to be able to focus attention on its major productions. New Line was taken over by Warner Bros in 2008 after Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne were shown the door by Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes following a string of expensive box office failures: as many as 550 New Line staffers lost their jobs. New Line has the two back-to-back movies of The Hobbit in the pipeline, as well as Jack The Giant Killer, the musical Rock Of Ages with Tom Cruise, the spinoff on Valentine’s Day titled New Year’s Eve, the comedy Horrible Bosses, and the Steve Carell laugher Burt Wonderstone.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
NewLine titles are way more interesting than the WB crappola.
Anyone know who was let go? Have quite a few friends over there…
Names??
Sad to see this happen. Hope those people will land elsewhere.
What happens to producers that have pending deals with NL? I’m assuming they lose their development deals.
THE HEADLINE SHOULD HAVE BEEN
WARNERS DOWNSIZES NEW LINE AGAIN
AND AGAIN
Riiiight! Focus on big films…such as the recent Arthur? I feel bad for these people that are letting go. Maybe if I learned how to spend less on a film budget, you’d save some employees and stretch that creativity to make something worth watching!
Watch what happens as Alan Horn departs WB…the downsizing will spread to WB, too.
After the slam dunk last Harry Potter films…WB does not have too many ‘sure’ hits to follow…and, so far, Red Riding Hood and Sucker Punch have left some serious negative cash flow to be covered by some other huge hits and/or …downsizing.
And quite frankly, WB has a huge amount riding on Green Lantern and Superman with none other than Zack Snyder directing what will be a 200 million dollar project…and, I wonder if even Chris Nolan can make this a good film with Snyder in the director’s chair.
At least, Nolan should deliver another Billion dollar gross with his Batman 3.
I hate to see anyone losing their jobs, but why don’t they just close the division completely? Four pictures a year??? How is that enough to keep anyone busy? It just seems to be cruel and unusual punishment to keep this division on life support. For the ones that didnt get laid off, I would start looking now rather than waiting for the final axe to fall.
this is a shot at the bow at the female audience which NL did so well, this studio knew what women wanted. what now? maybe sucker punch? little red riding hood? snow white? screw it, who cares/make fast five. reboot a franchise. karma will kick in guys, eventually, when the lame cartoons collapse. eventually you will have to think.50% of the market. domestic matters. cry everyone. this is really bad.
Those folks do not care about Karma, only the board of directors and the bottom line.
“Good news?” Seriously? To paraphrase the BBC Office–there is no good news here, there is only bad news and lack of worse news.
Who were the execs let go?
This is a real shame for the industry. New Line has a terrific group of executives and is a fun place to do business with. Does Robinov want to focus more on the “sucker punch” type movies? WTF?
It’s ashame that WB downsized Newline at all. The right strategy to save $$ was to cut back the large budget blockbuster movies that don’t guarantee big returns in this economy. Best to invest ” less $$” in great, quality scripts ( small movies ) that the audience can sink their teeth into and get high returns back. Small budget movies with substance such as ” Shine “, ” Million Dollar Baby “, ” Boys Don’t Cry “, ” Leaving Las Vegas ” etc….these movies appeal to people because they had so much substance, and good acting, therefore the audience see them and that is how you make profits and oscars….put less $$$ into quality movies, and get bigger profits back! Big features with big names, big budgets don’t always make money, but lose $$$! Stupid to have downsized Newline!
New Line needs to go independent. Leave the Warners fold. Get new financing and move forward. It’s well known brand. A label that can’t co-exist with the WB agenda. Bewkes needs to sell the label. Let the step child go. The Miramax that the Weinstiens built and New Line of Shaye and Lynn exemplified the meaning of indie. Hang in there Toby. Find a buyer deep pocket hedge fund or equity group. Its time cut the imbilcal cord.
“Exemplified the meaning of indie”? You mean “anything that isn’t made by the Big Six”?
WB would never let go of NL for one simple reason, Hobbit. The value of that is not measurable.
but would Warners ever sell the label?
Well, Disney sold Miramax…
JAM – New Line can’t go find new financing because the only value of the brand is the library and Time Warner would never sell it. Plus, Toby would hardly be the right person to steer New Line back to the land of a mini major. The guy’s responsible for the fall of New Line in the first place. Also, heard the execs let go were Michelle Weiss and Meredith Finn.
Who was let go? Someone must know…
Leave it alone. They’ve already been designated as unnecessary – publishing their names would be beyond embarrassing.
of course they let the women go… even downsized new line remains a boy’s club…
Actually, there are still more women at New Line than men, just as there were before these layoffs, Captain Victim McWhiney. And a cadre of women do the hiring. You’re welcome.
Is Walter Hamada still there?
Really looking forward to the next big New Line ensemble vehicle,
ARBOR DAY… Should turn things right around!