Names and faces

Bob and Harvey Weinstein escalated a legal dispute over their claim to a share in the proceeds from the new Hobbit films by Warner Bros. with a lawsuit filed in a New York state court Tuesday. The brothers shared in the income from the 2012 film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey thanks to an agreement under which they sold film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth fantasies before founding their current studio, the Weinstein Co. Their lawsuit claims that they are owed a similar share in subsequent Hobbit films, including The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which is set for release by Warner and its New Line Cinema unit today. Warner, which disputes the claim, says the Weinsteins committed “one of the great blunders in movie history” by entering into a contract that gave them a stake in only one film. “They agreed to be paid only on the first motion picture based on The Hobbit,” said the Warner statement, “And that’s all they’re owed.”

Married stage and film actors Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs are splitting up. A publicist for the couple announced the breakup Thursday in a statement that said the separation was “jointly decided” and that the “primary focus and concern is for their son.” The pair met while appearing in Rent off-Broadway and married in 2003 after dating for seven years. They costarred on Broadway in the show Wild Party in 2000 and on the TV show Private Practice. Their son, Walker, was born in 2009. Menzel, 42, made her Broadway debut in Rent and won a Tony as Elphaba in Wicked. Her films include Enchanted, Rent and Ask the Dust. She is currently starring in the Broadway-bound musical If/Then. Diggs, 42, is best known for his role as Winston Shakespeare in the hit 1998 romantic film How Stella Got Her Groove Back, recently starred in The Best Man Holiday.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 12/13/2013

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