With The Hobbit already moving towards production and making waves with casting news, I figure interest has probably waned on the topic of how fucked is MGM today?
That
said, there’s still James Bond to think about, not to mention MGM’s
piece of The Hobbit pie, which could change whether cameras are rolling
or not. So with that said, perhaps it will interest you that MGM has
declared bankruptcy in New York’s US Bankruptcy Court, and that Spyglass
Entertainment is indeed going to be overseeing the classic studio. Last we spoke of MGM,
Spyglass had become the number one prospect for throwing the dying
studio a bone, since Summit had picked up its toys (bought with Twilight cash) and gone home.
The
announcement today is a complicated one, since MGM owed fat cash to
over 90 investors, including $20+ million chunks to NBC, Showtime, and
Rainbow Media. There is also Carl Icahn, who owned nearly half a billion
dollars of the studio’s debt and apparently shaped the agreement
profoundly. While he has agreed to the current deal that names Spyglass
heads Gary Barber and Roger Birnhaum as CEOs of the new MGM, it’s said
that he’s still much more interested in an MGM/Lionsgate merger (he owns
about 1/3rd of the latter). The chances of that still happening are
significant.
Hollywood Report has the full details,
if you care to dig into all the numbers and caveats and corporate press
releases (spoiler alert: they’re all “very pleased” with the agreement
and look forward to “quickly” becoming a studio that actually matters
again). What you should take away from this is that MGM has finally made
it to the safety net and will remain a player in the game, though
likely as a production focused company with little or no distribution
dealings. The Hobbit
is happening, due to a jump-start from other studios (namely WB) that
were sick of the hand-sitting, but Bond still sits in the corner until
all of this settles down.
(Thanks to Cathy C.)