BREAKING: Lionsgate, which acquired worldwide distribution rights to the horror film The Cabin in the Woods from MGM, has set it for release on Friday, April 13, 2012. Deadline revealed in April that Lionsgate would take over distribution of the film, and the distribution date was finalized by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group president Joe Drake and Jason Constantine, president of Acquisitions and Co-productions.
This really puts an end to a horrifically long delay on a film that has a great creative pedigree and a high degree of fanboy wanna-see, and it’s probably no coincidence the date was locked in time for Comic-Con. Cloverfield writer Drew Goddard directed the film and co-wrote it with The Avengers director Joss Whedon. The film’s cast includes Chris Hemsworth, who made it before he was set to star as the title character in Marvel’s Thor. The delay has little to do with the quality of the film. It was once slated to be released by MGM on Oct. 23, 2009, but was pulled back because it was going to be converted to 3D. Then, everything froze at MGM because of the strangling debt load, and The Cabin in the Woods was among several pictures that languished. By the time the picture is released, Thor will have established Hemsworth’s star value, which … Read More
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Lionsgate Sets April 13, 2012 Bow For 'The Cabin In The Woods'
Hot Trailer: MGM/Sony's 'Zookeeper'
What a road this movie has traveled. This is Sony’s big Summer 2011 comedy, but pre-bankruptcy MGM did all the heavy lifting. It paid $2 million for the Jay Scherick/David Ronn script and hired Kevin James at a bargain price before he made Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and then steered the pic through production. It should have been MGM’s swing for the fences, but the MGM financial crisis caused it to be turned over for distribution by its SPE partners. Release date is July 8th:
TOLDJA! MGM Makes Distribution Deal With Sony Pictures That Includes James Bond
Sony Pictures and MGM have finally announced the worst kept secret in Hollywood. They’ve reached an agreement that will return Sony Pictures to its role as distributor of the James Bond movies. Sony, along with studios like Warner Bros, Paramount and Fox, all engaged in talks with the reconstituted MGM on a deal that came at a hefty price. Deadline reported previously that MGM walked away with the right to be co-financier on several plum Sony films, including the David Fincher-directed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, as well as others to be added to the mix, including the remake of Total Recall. The latter film might be particularly painful for Sony because sources tell us that MGM gets to distribute Total Recall in the highly valuable international TV market. This is considered a huge benefit to MGM in that it enhances the value of its international TV portfolio and robs Sony’s existing international TV partners of a title that is expected to be big overseas. Neither Sony nor MGM would comment on the horse-trading part of the deal.
Clearly, Sony wanted the Bond franchise back badly, and now Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton have brought 007 back into the fold. Deadline
MGM Today Lays Off Its Digital Department
I heard about a few secret layoffs at MGM right before Christmas 2010, and as recently as January 28th. Today, MGM laid off its entire Digital Department before the big move to the studio’s new Beverly Hills location. Post-bankrupt MGM is now under the control of Spyglass Entertainment’s Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum.
Sony About To Recapture James Bond #23; UPDATE: MGM Leverages 007 For Deal On Sony's 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'
2ND UPDATE: The new MGM brass, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum managed to leverage the James Bond #23 film for a piece of Sony’s in-the-works big movie based on the Stieg Larsson bestseller, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which has already been shooting in Sweden under director David Fincher and starring Rooney Mara. Deadline has learned that Sony Pictures bosses Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton agreed to give MGM a co-financing deal for the big title and possibly other films already shooting, too, to help the reconstituted studio generate quick cash flow. This allows MGM to have revenue which it hasn’t had in a long time, so the books look better, and more funds for production could be forthcoming. (That’s exactly how Birnbaum and Barber built their Spyglass Entertainment in the first place: by investing in films it didn’t make, like the recently rebooted Star Trek.)
UPDATE: We’re told Paramount dropped out of the Bond bidding when MGM insisted on bringing the distribution fee under 8% and when MGM got “grabby” in wanting a piece of a Paramount established franchise that studio didn’t want to give up.
EXCLUSIVE 5 PM: Deadline hears that Sony Pictures is close to landing distribution rights to MGM’s James Bond franchise again, and specifically for the next untitled Bond #23, even though several studios are still very much in the … Read More
MGM RESTRUCTURE COMPLETE: Spyglass' Roger Birnbaum And Gary Barber Take Reins With $500 Million To Spend
LOS ANGELES, CA, December 20, 2010 ‘
BACK ON ITS FEET? MGM Creditors Crown Spyglass Partners New Chiefs
2ND UPDATE: MGM has just issued this statement about the results of the creditor voting:
“Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (‘MGM’) today announced that the secured lenders voting in the Company’s solicitation process have overwhelmingly approved its proposed plan of reorganization (‘Plan’). MGM will now move expeditiously to implement that Plan, which will dramatically reduce its debt load and put the Company in a strong position to execute its business strategy. MGM is appreciative of the lenders’ support.”
UPDATE: The creditors have now officially approved the restructuring plan that puts the Spyglass chiefs atop MGM and gets the studio moving again. A statement will be released momentarily. Now, the fun begins. If MGM isn’t a distributor, the next installment of James Bond will be a jump ball. Expect Sony (which distributed Casino Royale to battle it out with Warner Bros and Fox, but watch Paramount emerge in the thick of it because of the close relationship that the studio has developed with Spyglass since that company became co-financier of Star Trek and the followup that is in the works.
BREAKING NEWS… Today is judgment day for MGM creditors on whether to vote through a reorganization that would put Spyglass partners Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber atop a slimmed down MGM that will function as a production company but shed its distribution and marketing units. I’m … Read More
Mary Parent Is Officially Out At MGM
Breaking News… After making no secret that she was negotiating her exit from MGM after taking the job in April 2008, Mary Parent this afternoon is now officially out at the studio where she was Chairman of the Motion Picture Group and Co-CEO. It’s a sad ending to Parent’s struggle to revive the debt-ridden cash-strapped studio and get it producing and distributing movies again against huge odds. That she was able to accomplish anything at all, even a few releases and co-productions, is testament to her professionalism and personality. Hollywood needs to salute her. MORE
Meanwhile, on the financial front, MGM has just issued this statement:
LOS ANGELES, CA, October 15, 2010 ‘
Spyglass Partners Inch Closer To MGM Reins; Battle Royals Looms For James Bond Distribution Rights
As expected, the MGM ownership situation is getting closer to being sorted, and it won’t be long before the Lion has a chance to roar again. Or at least emerge from its cage. Spyglass chiefs Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber have signed non-binding letters of intent that will make them MGM co-chairmen/CEOs. That leads to the next step, which is a pre-packaged bankruptcy proceeding that would convert debt to equity, removing the $4 billion albatross from around the Lion’s neck so that it can start generating films again. The prepackaged bankruptcy allows the company to be restructured while it freezes existing deals for franchises that include the James Bond series and The Hobbit.
The LA Times reports that the Spyglass guys are already looking past this hurdle, and are talking with Ken Schapiro about coming aboard as COO. He’s a vet of Qualia Capital, which was among the entities that kicked the tires on MGM before management decided to go with Birnbaum and Barber, who are expected to make projects but will likely eliminate the studio’s marketing and distribution arms and set the projects up elsewhere. All this means that The Hobbit, with Peter Jackson at the helm, can move forward, with co-financing partner Warner Bros distributing the two films worldwide.
The situation on 007 will be more feverish. Warner Bros, Sony Pictures Entertainment and 20th Century Fox are the obvious outlets, … Read More
EXCLUSIVE: Summit Walks Away From MGM To Go Back Into Acquisitions Mode
“Summit is pulling out because the process has gone on way too long and it’s become a distraction for the business,” an insider tells me this morning. Summit toppers Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger are still in acquisition mode, and the company will continuing looking for good deals in what is a very depressed showbiz marketplace where bargains are plentiful — especially film and TV libraries. The fundamental issue which MGM creditors had with Summit is that they would have had to give up too much equity in order involve the mini-major which remains flush with cash thanks to the Twilight franchise. “I’m not sure that Summit bowing out changes the Spyglass situation,” my insider added. For months now, Hollywood has known that Spyglass is the bigger creditors’ frontrunner to control MGM, which seems finally poised to plunge itself into a prepackaged bankruptcy, and then emerge with Spyglass partners Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber starting production for the studio. But Summit has remained very much under consideration and hadn’t heard they’re out of it — at least not yet. So Summit decided to pull the plug on its own.
This lead group of MGM creditors (Anchorage Advisors, Highland Capital Management, and Davidson Kempner Capital Management who have banded together) would have Spyglass plan transform MGM into a pure production company and close down its marketing and distribution divisions. Coupled with the equity that Spyglass would bring to the table, a streamlined MGM would lower its debt and … Read More
WHY NOW? Baffling Resurgence Of Rumor About MGM-Lionsgate Merger Talks
I’m being told there’s really nothing new with these explanatary conversations. And, anyway, Lionsgate can’t do any kind of deal with MGM unless the studio management brokers some settlement with 32% shareholder Carl Icahn, who has made it clear he won’t approve any big buys by the studio right now. Strange that this is coming on the heels of reports that Spyglass is in the lead to run MGM. (Spyglass Beating Summit To Run MGM?)
Lionsgate management attempted a lowball bid of $1.3B-$1.4B during the MGM auction and then dropped out in March. That’s the last time Lionsgate defied Icahn’s warning [...]
MGM Creditors Auditioning Moguls?
Bloomberg.com is reporting that MGM creditors are canvassing Hollywood execs to run a studio the creditors would keep rather than sell off at fire sale price. The report lists Peter Chernin, Jonathan Dolgen, Spyglass partners Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber as execs who’ve met recently. Joe Roth, Rick Sands and Chris McGurk also met but weren’t interested, per the story by Ronald Grover and Michael White.
My question is: if the creditors are determined to make a go and revive the Lion, why not let MGM Motion Picture Group chairman Mary Parent get back in there and do her job? It [...]
FT: Tony & Ridley Scott Want To Run MGM
The Financial Times is reporting (sub req’d) in Friday’s edition that Ridley and Tony ”have expressed interest in running MGM”. The newspaper quotes ”people familiar with the situation” as its sources. The assumption is that, if MGM emerges from the busted auction as a stand-alone and restructured company, a new management team will be brought in to run the studio once its fate is determined by creditors. ”The Scott brothers have their own production company, Scott Free, but it is unclear whether their proposal would involve combining it with MGM, or if they are seeking a stake in the recapitalized studio. They could not be reached for comment.”
MGM UPDATE: Relativity Media Offers $500M Investment Towards New Productions
EXCLUSIVE… 2ND UPDATE: Insiders tell me that Relativity Media, which is long backed by New York-based hedge fund Elliott Associates, is joining the expanding list of Hollywood types who want to see nearly bankrupt MGM become a stand-alone but restructured studio. To that end, Relativity has offered a $500M investment in MGM so the studio could start making new productions including more James Bond, The Hobbit pics, etc. It’s not Relativity’s aim to get involved with managing the studio, just to take over a lot of control over the production side. I hear this offer was made 3 weeks ago and kept under [...]
MGM Begs Creditors For Stand-Alone Studio
EXCLUSIVE: In the next few days, the steering group of MGM’s creditors (which represents the largest holders of the debt) are expected to make some key decisions about the future of the nearly bankrupt studio. Here’s more evidence that the MGM auction is a bust: I’ve learned that last Thursday, right before Easter weekend, MGM Management gave an 8-hour presentation in the old MGM Screening Room to the creditors. Some attended. Some joined via phone. The studio’s management pleaded for a stand-alone but restructured MGM with a game plan to make 6 to 8 films per year. They requested that [...]
MGM GETS MORE TIME (4th Extension)
In a development that’s hardly surprising, MGM has received more time from its lenders to figure out its ownership and try to make the Lion roar again. This follows an auction that amounted to a bottom-feeding frenzy in which suitors looked over the studio’s assets that include James Bond, a half-share of The Hobbit, and other franchises and a library. But the bids that came in would not even have halved the MGM debt load. The Studio just issued this statement:
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Lionsgate Exits MGM Auction After Bidding
That napalm smell surrounding Hollywood is even more pungent this afternoon. I’ve just confirmed that Lionsgate management’s attempt to lowball MGM didn’t work. The studio has now dropped out of the auction after bidding between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion. (For the record, the Wall Street Journal got to this first.) But what’s most interesting to me is that Lionsgate defied Carl Icahn’s warning not to do any major deals and did bid for MGM after all. (Yesterday, LG vice chairman Michael Burns wouldn’t admit to a bid when interviewed by CNBC.) This is entertaining indeed — until somebody gets [...]
MGM Development: The Bids Are In
MGM has apparently taken a step forward in its longstanding efforts to find a new owner. The studio just issued this statement:
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FINAL MGM BIDS DUE FRIDAY: So Who's In And Who's Out (Or Doesn't It Matter)?
I’m still traveling (through Sunday). But I wanted to at least quickly update you on the MGM sale situation. First, the embattled studio is looking even more beat up this week now that MGM’s Hot Tub Time Machine is tracking just mediocre despite earmarking $45 million on domestic P&A. Ugh, another MGM loser. Anyway, as you know, final bids are due on Friday. After a lot of hemming and hawing, 5 parties have been in the mix considering 2nd-round bids for MGM which put itself up for sale last year after it couldn’t keep making payments on $3.7 billion of debt. But who’s in and who’s [...]