Peter Jackson fans hope to get New Line Cinema by the balls. The studio “dumped” Jackson from The Hobbit, and Jackson struck back by posting a letter on fan site theonering.net and now New Line is hearing from the Lord of the Rings director’s legions of supporters, swarming the blogosphere like a million annoying Gollums.

The NYT describes the Internet fury over Jackson’s dismissal as “a bombshell that went whizzing through cyberspace.” Never mind that bombshells don’t whiz, the problem we have with the story is that it takes seriously the fans’ assertions that if New Line doesn’t rehire Jackson these Middle Earth middlemen will boycott the film.

First of all: No they won’t. What else are they going to do on a Friday night? Go out with a girl?

Second: Why should New Line care? Cyber geeks are very, very loud. But they are rarely successful in making or breaking a film.