Reaching the End of the New Line

Less than five months ago, New Line Cinema co-chairmen Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne were celebrating the 40th anniversary of the company that Shaye founded out of an apartment on East 14th Street in New York at the New York Film Festival. Needless to say, four decades in the movie business deserved a trip uptown, to the Lincoln Center's tony Fredrick P. Rose Hall, where no less than Nicole Kidman glided down the red carpet and a full gospel choir accompanied Ricki Lake and Marissa Jaret Winokur in a rendition of the "Hairspray" number "Come So Far." Days later, the duo would get an hour on Charlie Rose en route to releasing one of the biggest budgeted films in their history, the $200 million-plus fantasy "The Golden Compass." Now those days seem like a different age, after word came down yesterday that Warner Bros. will absorb the studio without the participation of Shaye and Lynne. It looks like the house that Freddy Krueger built and Gandalf retrofitted is about to undergo an extreme makeover.

By Stephen Saito in Biz | Link | Recommended (5)

Tags: Fine Line, New Line