Posts Tagged ‘MGM’

Due to Metro Goldwyn-Mayer’s immense debt ($4 billion) the studio that has owned the rights to the James Bond name for decades faces an uncertain future with its most prized franchise. Although the studio received yet another extension to pay $450 million to its debtholders that will continue through Sept. 15, the financial crisis is far from over. MGM’s goal is to sell the company, but no offers have yet been up to par. Time Warner offered $1.5 billion, and that remains the highest bid.

All of these money woes have caused an indefinite delay for the next Bond film. What MGM fears is that these woes continue for such a time that the franchise wont be able to get back on its feet again (5, 6 years?). Nobody seems to lack confidence that the franchise can still rake in the big bucks, as the last time there was a long delay between Bond films (the switch between Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan) it led to GoldenEye, which grossed over $352 million worldwide. The two Daniel Craig projects, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, grossed a combined $1 billion worldwide, so it’s safe to think that another Bond film will be made. The only question is when, and by whom.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Quick Opinion: The James Bond franchise is indeed too successful to be left for dead. Although most people are of the opinion that Quantum didn’t quite live up to Royale, there is still a lot of interest in knowing where the story set-up by these films will go next. Has Bond really let go of his feelings for Vesper? Will he return to his more charismatic ways and not be so serious? Will we ever find out exactly what Quantum’s bigger plan is? There is still a lot of story to discover. The biggest problem for both MGM – or whoever ends up owning the rights – and audiences that I see is that the longer these financial problems go unresolved the less a studio will be able to get from Daniel Craig, who can only do so many of these movies before he gets too old for them (granted that might take another ten years). So, the longer the delay, the fewer movies they can make with Craig, which is less money they can make from him, which is less entertainment for us. But, we should be confident that James Bond will be back. After all, it just wouldn’t be the same without him.

Metro Goldwyn-Mayer is drowning in debt, but its survival behooves its investors

In order to play catch-up with the latest news that has happened over the past few days, here are some of the more notable headlines aside from Despicable Me‘s opening weekend box-office numbers (which reportedly exceeded $60 million).

Metro Goldwyn-Mayer Requests 6th Debt Extention

The longstanding Hollywood studios is reportedly almost $4 billion in debt. More than 100 lenders who will assume control of the company soon (due to this debt) are in the process of phasing in new management, but in the meantime the company still owes the lenders a $250 million payment with a $200 million interest tag, which must be paid by July 15th. However, MGM will have more time to come up with these funds if the lenders grant the company a sixth extension, which they have until July 13th to do.

Disney to Finally Sell Miramax?

Disney has made an agreement (but not an official deal) with a group headed by construction executive Ronald Tutor and joined by Colony Capital that will sell the latter Miramax studios, along with its 611 film library, for $650 million. Only $300 million is available in equity to Disney at the moment with more to be raised in the near future, and so a $200 million debt is to be expected for Tudor and Colony Capitol if the deal goes through. Disney appears to have confidence that the buyers will be able to raise the money.

The Weinstein Co. still claims to have interest in buying Miramax, but their 2005 exit agreement happened because they felt Disney’s asking price of $650 million was too high. If the Tudor/Capitol talks fall through, Weinstein will reportedly consider making another bid. If the current deal does become official, it will raise questions about the rights to certain films that Weinstein still owns due to their exit agreement. Miramax will not be able to make sequels or remakes for any films Weinstein owns without their approval.

Academy Changes Rules for Animated Films

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors has released new rules about which animated films can be nominated for the Best Animated Feature category. The original cutoff for animated shorts was a 40 minute maximum, and animated features had to be at least 70 minutes. The gap has been corrected to include animated films over 40 mins in the feature-length category.

Also, the board has decreed that motion-capture animation does not qualify as true animation, which is the traditional “frame-by-frame technique”. So, mo-cap animated films will not be eligible for Best Animated Short or Feature Oscar categories. The new rule regarding animated films is as follows: “An animated feature film is defined as a motion picture with a running time of greater than 40 minutes, in which movement and characters’ performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique. Motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75% of the picture’s running time.”

It’s a question that’s plagued me for a while now: whatever happened to big Hollywood movie musicals?  Movie genres typically go through cycles of popularity and I think we’re due for another round of flashy, dance-filled musicals.

Busby Berkley's kaleidoscopic dance numbers, like this one in "Footlight Parade" (1933), helped make American musicals world famous

Musicals have been a long-enduring genre since the early days of film.  In fact, the very first sound film was a musical—1927’s The Jazz Singer.  When it became a runaway success, studios rushed to create more musicals, some of which became the beginnings of a series.  Warner Brothers’ triumph with The Gold Diggers of Broadway led to The Gold Diggers of 1933, which became one of the most celebrated musicals of all time thanks in large part to Busby Berkeley’s intricate choreography.  RKO Radio Pictures first paired dancers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers—who danced together in nine films—in 1933 in Flying Down to Rio, creating arguably the most famous dancing couple in film history.  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released The Broadway Melody in 1929, which not only started a series but also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.  As time went on, production companies made more and more musicals until the genre reached its greatest popularity in the 1940’s and ‘50s.

Though many studios made musicals during that time, MGM arguably became the company most associated with producing expensive, opulent and immensely successful musicals.  They produced Easter Parade, Summer Stock, An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, The Band Wagon, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Guys and Dolls, as well as numerous others.  Those films were a mixture of song and dance and while they weren’t exactly realistic, they were always entertaining. MGM musicals have always been my favorites and when I think of the kind of musicals I’d love to see now, I imagine huge productions with the same glamour and spectacle as MGM’s greatest musicals.  I’m talking musicals with big, expensive set pieces and extended dance sequences with dancers wearing costumes of every conceivable color.  I’m talking great songs that not only convey exactly what the character feels, but are also catchy and make the audience want to sing along.

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