Jackson drops 'Hobbit'

November 22, 2006

Peter Jackson says he won't be making a movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel "The Hobbit" or a planned prequel to "The Lord of the Rings." In a letter posted on Theonering.com., Jackson and partner Fran Walsh said an executive from New Line Cinema had called to tell them the studio was moving ahead with "The Hobbit" without him. The announcement came amid an ongoing dispute between Wingnut Films and New Line Cinema over the amount Jackson was paid for "The Fellowship of the Ring," including DVD payments. While Jackson hasn't said how much he believes he was underpaid, The New York Times last year quoted his lawyers as saying it was as much as $100 million. He's suing New Line Cinema over the shortfall. Jackson won a best-director Oscar for 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

The late "60 Minutes" journalist Ed Bradley was eulogized as a man who believed he was doing God's work during a memorial yesterday that drew admirers from National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern to shock jock Howard Stern. Ex-president Bill Clinton was a surprise guest, remembering Bradley as "mesmerizing because you knew you were watching a master at work." Bradley died of leukemia at 65 Nov. 9. His family organized a memorial at the Riverside Church that doubled as New York's hippest concert venue for the day: Aaron and Art Neville, Jimmy Buffett, Allen Toussaint, Wynton Marsalis, Lizz Wright, and Irma Thomas all performed in tribute to Bradley, a music lover.

There is no Kevin Federline-Britney Spears sex tape, Federline's lawyer said yesterday. Attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan issued the statement in response to "reports rampant in the press and media regarding rumors of alleged attempts by Kevin Federline" to sell a purported sex video. "While this is endemic of countless false and inaccurate stories that have made their way into the media regarding Kevin, his marriage to Britney, and the divorce proceedings which they are presently going through, I want to put this issue to rest once and for all," Kaplan said. The couple married in 2004, and Spears, 24, filed for divorce this month. Federline, 28, has counter-filed, seeking custody of their two children.

Wesley Snipes has told a newspaper columnist he's being unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors who indicted him on tax fraud charges. "It appears I'm to be the scapegoat, because there's more public interest in 'celebrities gone bad' than 'rich people being taken advantage of,' " Snipes wrote last weekend in an e-mail to Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell. An Oct. 17 indictment charges Snipes with fraudulently claiming refunds totaling nearly $12 million in 1996 and 1997 on income taxes already paid. The star of the "Blade" trilogy and other films was also charged with failure to file returns from 1999 through 2004. If convicted, Snipes, 44, faces up to 16 years in prison.

David Blaine's latest stunt is as much about charity as publicity. The magician traveled to Times Square in New York yesterday for a topsy-turvy Thanksgiving escape, stepping inside a gyroscope where his hands and feet will eventually be shackled. Blaine has until Friday morning to shed his shackles in the spinning scope; if he does, 100 children selected by The Salvation Army will each be given $500 gift certicates to go on a shopping spree at Target. The shackles go on tomorrow at 2 p.m., giving Blaine 16 hours to make his great escape.

FROM WIRE REPORTS