A salute to 40 years of New Line Cinema brought together an elegant crowd for a black-tie benefit gala at Frederick P. Rose Hall, the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

New Line chairmen Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne spared no expense in creating a spectacular evening that included special guest Nicole Kidman, who sat in a center box seat with Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendy. Guests enjoyed a retrospective of film clips along with live onstage observations by Jane Fonda, Morgan Freeman, John Waters, and Werner Herzog, followed by a clip from The Golden Compass, starring Kidman and Daniel Craig. Dinner and dancing followed.

Among the glitterati: Charlie Rose, Katie Lee Joel, Fran Drescher, Darlene Love, Javier Bardem, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Ricki Lake, Jennifer Hudson, Lake Bell, Rebecca De Mornay, and Sam Elliot.

The evening also commemorated a long and successful collaboration between New Line and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The event raised $2 mil toward the construction of the new home for the Film Society, but the surprise came when Bob and Michael were honored with the announcement of the future Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne Lobby inside the Elinor Bunin-Monroe Film Center. This addition to Lincoln Center is expected to be completed in 2010.

New Line’s biggest moneymakers include: the Austin Powers, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Lord of the Rings series, Dumb and Dumber, Magnolia, Hairspray (2007), and the highly anticipated Sex and the City: The Movie.