I don't know if it's the lawyers, accountants, the movie industry, etc (and I'm not tarring anyone who may be or be associated with such), but what fun seemingly can be had with reality in Hollywood. Remember the movie starring Eddie Murphy called
Coming to America? Art Buchwald won a lawsuit against the studio as it was his idea that they stole. He was awarded damages on settlement of the appeal (or something). Anyway, the studio claimed that the movie never made a profit (though in the US alone it made $350 million), and so they could never pay up. You can read more
here.
New Line may just be like everything else in that unreal world.