After a four-decade run that saw its transformation from an upstart indie company exploiting rude John Waters movies and gory horror flicks to a mini-major winning Oscars and billion-dollar worldwide grosses with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, New Line is being absorbed into parent company Time Warner's Warner Bros. Pictures.
As part of the cost-saving consolidation ordered by TW's new CEO Jeff Bewkes, New Line co-chairmen and co-CEOs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are leaving the company they founded in 1967, though Bewkes said they are in talks encompassing "a number of alternatives" and could end up producing films for New Line or Warner.
New Line will remain more than just a production label within Warner, though. It will retain its own separate development and production, marketing and distribution operations. The unit will report to Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman and CEO Barry Meyer and president and COO Alan Horn, with Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, also set to play a key role in overseeing the new New Line. (Shaye and Lynne had reported to the TW chairman during their tenure.)
An undetermined number of New Line's 600 staffers could face layoffs. The future of production head Toby Emmerich, who has tried to pull New Line away from horror movies, also is unknown. Bewkes said the future New Line executive lineup and details of layoffs are being worked out.
Two key factors played into Bewkes' decision, the new CEO's first major initiative to reflect the hard decisions he appears willing to make in reshaping Time Warner.The company is in the process of reducing the number of films it distributes from both Warner and New Line, with Warner reducing its product flow from 25-30 films a year to 18-20. Bewkes said New Line, in turn, must "focus on being an indie, rather than being halfway to a major."In recent years, as New Line's ambitions have grown, it has taken on more risk. The three "Rings" movies, released between 2001 and 2003, resulted in a box-office bonanza. But New Line hasn't maintained that momentum. Although it scored two $100 million-plus hits in 2007 with "Hairspray" and "Rush Hour 3," most of its lineup failed to ignite, and its pricey "The Golden Compass," though a hit abroad, fell flat in the U.S.
From www.hollywoodreporter.com
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