As rumoured
Jul. 9th, 2010 07:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ourdramaqueenhttp://www.kristinthompson.net/blog/?p=1215
MGM requests sixth debt extension
Variety reports that, as expected, MGM today asked its approximately 140 creditors for a sixth extension of its principal and interest repayments, which are due July 14. The situation remains pretty much as it was, with MGM rumored to have talked with Lionsgate, Summit, and Spyglass as to whether one of them might partner with the studio to restructure it. Its current debt is $3.7 billion. Time Warner’s bid of around $1.5 billion to buy the struggling company remains on the table.
The new move was expected. I was interested in this comment, though: “Peter Jackson’s been in talks to take over as director for the two “Hobbit” films in the wake of Guillermo del Toro departing. Co-financer has denied del Toro’s assertion that the delays in getting a “Hobbit” greenlight were due to a lack of a resolution to MGM’s ownership situation.”
“Co-financier” here must mean Warner Bros. New Line, now a production unit under Warner, has been denying all along that the Hobbit delays are connected to MGM’s financial woes. I’ve been skeptical all along that Warner Bros. would get itself into a co-production deal with MGM, already known at the time as a company in trouble, without building all sorts of contingency arrangements into the contract. Maybe I’m sticking my neck out too far here, but I still think that whatever happens to MGM, The Hobbit will get made. There may be other causes for the delay that we know nothing about.
If Kristin Thompson is right, I'd realy like to know WTF else could cause such a huge holdup, and why would it be kept a secret???
MGM requests sixth debt extension
Variety reports that, as expected, MGM today asked its approximately 140 creditors for a sixth extension of its principal and interest repayments, which are due July 14. The situation remains pretty much as it was, with MGM rumored to have talked with Lionsgate, Summit, and Spyglass as to whether one of them might partner with the studio to restructure it. Its current debt is $3.7 billion. Time Warner’s bid of around $1.5 billion to buy the struggling company remains on the table.
The new move was expected. I was interested in this comment, though: “Peter Jackson’s been in talks to take over as director for the two “Hobbit” films in the wake of Guillermo del Toro departing. Co-financer has denied del Toro’s assertion that the delays in getting a “Hobbit” greenlight were due to a lack of a resolution to MGM’s ownership situation.”
“Co-financier” here must mean Warner Bros. New Line, now a production unit under Warner, has been denying all along that the Hobbit delays are connected to MGM’s financial woes. I’ve been skeptical all along that Warner Bros. would get itself into a co-production deal with MGM, already known at the time as a company in trouble, without building all sorts of contingency arrangements into the contract. Maybe I’m sticking my neck out too far here, but I still think that whatever happens to MGM, The Hobbit will get made. There may be other causes for the delay that we know nothing about.
If Kristin Thompson is right, I'd realy like to know WTF else could cause such a huge holdup, and why would it be kept a secret???
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