Today's Film News: New Line No More

By Katey Rich

A stalwart in independent film that made it big enough to play with the majors is, essentially, no more: New Line heads Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are out the door, and the studio will be folded into its parent company, Warner Bros., as a specialty arm. New Line was experiencing well-publicized financial troubles since the blockbuster success of Lord of the Rings, and had moved away from its roots in offbeat, independent film distribution. The fate of The Hobbit, New Line's planned two-picture adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's book, is unclear, as is the status of New Line-owned Picturehouse. It's the end of an era, folks.

For the first time ever, I can tell you in all honesty I knew this before Variety reported it: Forgetting Sarah Marshall collaborators Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller will team up again for The Five-Year Engagement, a romantic comedy that will be, like Marshall, produced by Judd Apatow. Segel and Stoller are co-writing the script, and Segel will star as a man engaged for five years. "It's definitely an extension of our desire to explore the depth of human misery," Stoller told Variety. You can learn plenty more about these guys in my feature article about Forgetting Sarah Marshall, coming soon to the Film Journal International website!

Looks like twenty-somethings are the new teenagers. Indie comedy Bumped will be The Breakfast Club remade as five twenty-somethings bumped off a flight in the Chicago airport. As The Hollywood Reporter describes it, they'll be different "types," such as the musician, the buttoned-up executive, and the flirt. Anna Mastro, who has worked closely with McG in the past, will direct the script by Lizzy Weiss. No word on whether or not there will be a choreographed dance number on the railings in the library, though we can all remain hopeful.

And finally, the French seems to be as excited about the Indiana Jones sequel as I am: it looks like the film will have its world premiere at Cannes in May, much like Ocean's Thirteen did last summer. The Variety article also notes that Steven Spielberg has not shown anyone a cut of the movie, which might be causing some hand-wringing over at Paramount. I'm sticking with the camp that, uh, it's Indiana Jones, and probably next-to-impossible to screw up.