News > Ebert and Disney in Thumb War
August 27, 2007
Written by David Morgan
Fun fact: Roger Ebert, along with the estate of Gene Siskel, owns his trademark "thumbs up, thumbs down" movie rating system, which prompts the question: Does Henry Winkler have to send him a small royalty check every so often? It's also made people curious as to whether or not the thumbs are going to come back to Ebert's show At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper. According to , Ebert's contract is under negotiation and last weekend's episode aired sans Ebert and any thumbs.
Disney claims that Ebert "exercised his right to withhold use of the 'thumbs' until a new contract is signed."
But Ebert says that Disney "ordered the thumbs removed from the show," and that he "had made it clear the thumbs could remain during good-faith negotiations."
The show has been guest-hosted for over a year now by various critics and filmmakers due to Ebert's health problem, but Ebert remains certain that he will return someday.
"I love the show, and I love the thumbs, and I hope we will all be reunited soon." Well, that could be misconstrued, but good to hear it, big guy.
