Springtime For Hobbits And Hollywood

Its a day of rebirth — Hobbits, Wonder Woman, Barry Manilow. They’re all ready to become heroes all over again. It’s all in the trades.

• There’s lots of winners to the pending Tolkien – New Line 100 million dollar settlement, reports The Reporter’s Hollywood Esquire. Nerds will finally get to see Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro’s planned two Hobbit films get rolling. The charities that are supported by the Tolkien trust should see a flood of cash. And most important, Warners legal department will get rid of a decade long mess in what became “one the of the most-litigated franchises in movie history.” Hollywood Esq blames the debacle on the super-aggressive legal postures of former New Line Chiefs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, who’s strategy of underpaying partners sparked a parade of suits. [THR]

• Despite fierce opposition from the President’s Address to the Joint Session of Boring, Hollywood can rejoice its first moderate hit of the fall TV season. Fox’s Glee premiered very respectably, the first green shoots for the survival of media. In its debut, first non-pilot episode, Fox’s singing dramedy drew in approximately 7.3 million viewers. The season openers of So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Next Top Model earned respectable 6.5 million and 3.2 million overall. Of the networks airing the Obama speech, NBC was on top with 8.2 million viewers. [Variety]

• The major networks have joined forces in a coalition to attempt to create a new ratings system that will take on traditional giant Nielsen. The announcement indicated the coalition will develop a system that takes into account viewing across platforms. [THR]

• Sharon Waxman calls the Toronto Festival, which opens tonight, “a litmus test on the evolving state of serious cinema and its prospects for survival.” With the recent meltdown of independent film distributors, the onus will be on Toronto to demonstrate what comes next in the distribution of grown-up movies. [The Wrap]

• Warner Brothers has reorganized its DC Comics wing into DC Entertainment. The new arm will attempt to get the legions of DC heroes trapped in development hell — including Wonder Woman and Green Lantern – up and ready for the their close-ups. [Variety]

• Michael Stipe’s Single Cell Productions and Tom Hanks’ Playtone have joined forces to to develop a romantic comedy that will exploit the song catalogue of iconic singer/songwriter Barry Manilow. [Variety]