saul zaentz Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Producer Saul Zaentz no sooner finishes one court case before he's back at it again. This time Zaentz has launched a $20 million lawsuit against Walt Disney Company, including the Miramax Films unit, over profits from the 1996 drama The English Patient.

Reuters reports that the famed producer of Lord of The Rings (1978), Amadeus, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest filed suit last Thursday at the Los Angeles Superior Court. Zaentz's suit accuses Disney and Miramax of failing to share the profits for the Oscar-winning drama. According to Zaentz's suit, "Like Enron, Tyco and WorldCom, Miramax has used fraudulent and unfair accounting and business practices to deprive (Saul Zaentz Co.) of its profit participation,". Miramax has claimed that they have yet to make back what it cost them to acquire, distribute and market the film, so according to them there are no profits.

Well, Zaentz must think 20 is his lucky number, as he sued and won for that exact same amount ($20 million, that is) in a 2005 lawsuit against New Line Cinema over profits from the Lord of the Rings films. Hopefully Zaentz has better luck with his lawsuit than he had keeping Peter Jackson on The Hobbit. Plus, something tells me Disney isn't going to like that Enron crack.

You may remember seeing the name "Saul Zaentz" in the opening credits of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. His name is also listed on the credits for the Ralph Bakshi animated version from 1978. So who is Saul Zaentz, anyway? He's the producer who, in 1976, bought the rights to Tolkien's works and, logically, started up a company called Tolkien Enterprises. So what that basically means is that New Line "leased" the LOTR rights from Zaentz ... and it looks like those rights will be reverting back to the guy some time next year.

And apparently Saul Zaentz really wants Peter Jackson to direct the Hobbit movie. Matter of fact, Showbiz Data is carrying a quote from Mr. Z that states the following: "It will definitely be shot by Peter Jackson." Hey, cool! The mega-millionaire also takes a quick little swipe at New Line for forcing Jackson to take legal action against the studio in an effort to get his Fellowship merchandising money. Heh. I like this Zaentz fella. And if he can manage to get Peter Jackson back into the director's chair for The Hobbit, well, I'll like him a whole lot more.

Saul Zaentz also has a producer's credit on titles like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus and The English Patient, which means he also has three Academy Awards in addition to several huge piles of money.