Bad news for movie fans: the independent studio behind The Lord of the Rings has closed. New Line Cinema, which also made the A Nightmare On Elm Street and Austin Powers films, has been folded into its larger partner Warners Bros.
New Line Cinema will remain a genre arm for the studio and will continue to make low budget horrors and comedies, but many of the 600 staff face unemployment. It's believed that the founders of the company Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, who started the company 40 years ago, would not be keeping their jobs.
The reason for the change is believed to be a cost-cutting exercise for Warners Bros, who are trying to increase their stock price. It will also mean New Line films can no longer be distributed by other film companies outside America. The studio had had their fingers burnt on fantasy epic Golden Compass, which did poorly in the US despite a good showing overseas.
It does mean bigger production projects in development at New Line before the change, including The Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit, are now under threat.
It's also unclear what will happen to the lawsuit against New Line by the Tolkien estate who are suing the film company for $150 million in damages for failing to make royalty payments from the blockbusting trilogy.