Spyglass near to closing a deal with MGM

[katied]

The retro idea would have to be done correctly but there's too much of a risk of EON OTT-ing it .

[Blowfeld]

I agree. The risk is too great of EON throwing the baby out with the bathwater. A retro 007 adventure could easily be done and kept true to the spirit of the originals in my opinion. We'll see how well 'X-Men First Class' works out, if it is successful then maybe EON will be tempted, althou I'd give the reign to someone like Christopher Nolan who cold exert a degree of control sufficient enough to maintain the illusion for more than one movie.

[Blowfeld]

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's lead creditors' deal with Spyglass Entertainment includes a breakup fee in the event another buyer enters the picture, The Post has learned.

Spyglass co-heads Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum and their partners stand to collect as much as $4.5 million if the deal falls through, a source told The Post. The two men did not return calls for comment.

Rival suitor Time Warner offered to pay roughly $1.6 billion in cash for MGM and is said to still be interested. One source said the media giant could make a rival bid when MGM files for bankruptcy in mid-September. "Time Warner is interested at the same price they had indicated," the source said. "But they for now are standing on the sidelines."

Another unknown is billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who owns a sizable chunk of MGM's more than $4 billion of debt, the source said.

Under the plan, Birnbaum and Barber also stand to get a combined 4 percent stake in the restructured MGM after it exits bankruptcy. That could rise to 12 percent if they hit certain performance targets, the source said. The co-heads will not inject new money into the studio.

The lenders' plan calls for MGM's creditors to convert all debt into equity, taking ownership of the famed studio. MGM would then raise $400 million to $500 million in debt financing to fund new productions, the source said.

MGM, struggling to pay its creditors, has not been making movies for some time, reportedly delaying production on the new "Hobbit" movie.

Beyond their production expertise, Barber and Birnbaum will roll their Cypress Entertainment film library, including films such as "Seabiscuit" and "The Sixth Sense," into MGM, the source said.

Barber and Birnbaum own half of Spyglass Entertainment, along with Cerberus Capital Management. Like MGM, Spyglass is "pretty much out of money," said the source, adding that Cerberus will have no role in the new venture.

Under the plan, lenders value MGM, combined with the Cypress library, at $1.9 billion.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/b ... z0xXXEwfRm

[Blowfeld]

Even though Guillermo del Toro has departed from The Hobbit and MGM’s financial woes have threatened to complicate things further, gears reportedly continue to turn behind the scenes. Seventh Doctor and Karen Gillan’s fellow Scot from Doctor Who Sylvester McCoy has been rumored to be in line for a part in the film previously, but instead of taking on Ian Holm’s Lord of the Rings role as Bilbo Baggins, McCoy is now being mentioned as a candidate to play a wizard.

McCoy could play Radagast the Brown, according to an anonymously-sourced report on Bleeding Cool. It’s not the headlining spot that some DW fans might have hoped to see him land, but for those who enjoyed his arguable god complex and manipulative bent as a Time Lord, a wizard in Tolkien’s world shouldn’t be a huge stretch.

Neither McCoy nor a director have been nailed down yet, however, and until Peter Jackson and MGM get things stabilized, pretty much everything Hobbit-related is up in the air right now. Still, any signs of life are good signs for Jackson supporters at this point, so perhaps forward movement for the project remains to be seen in 2010.

this story can be found at http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2 ... -a-wizard/

[Dr. No]

Interesting there is news on teh LOTR front but not Bond. Tells me they really are dead in teh water. Unfortunately I think unless things change dramatically there is going to be a double dip recession, maybe depression in our future. IF the Bond people plan to get back to work early to mid 2012 it will be too late as I expect teh economy will start to flounder. I hope the experts predicting this are wrong from what I've seen in our area they are not far off. We are hurting here a lot of people are still losing their homes and the job market continues to shrink.

[FormerBondFan]

I would hate it if Ian McKellen backs out of The Hobbit.

[Kristatos]

Interesting there is news on teh LOTR front but not Bond. Tells me they really are dead in teh water. Unfortunately I think unless things change dramatically there is going to be a double dip recession, maybe depression in our future. IF the Bond people plan to get back to work early to mid 2012 it will be too late as I expect teh economy will start to flounder. I hope the experts predicting this are wrong from what I've seen in our area they are not far off. We are hurting here a lot of people are still losing their homes and the job market continues to shrink.

That doesn't necessarily mean a drop in movie ticket sales, though if EON are smart (big if, I know), Bond 23 will be lighter in tone than the depressing QoS. During a depression/recession, people want escapist entertainment, not holidays in other people's misery.

[carl stromberg]

Barbara & DC have it fixed in their heads that Bond films are really supposed to be serious and the current Eon don't seem to have many new ideas when it comes to villains and stunts. I don't think they could make the sort of film Cubby produced even if they wanted to.

[Kristatos]

Barbara & DC have it fixed in their heads that Bond films are really supposed to be serious

Yes, and that Emo Popeye, this creation of theirs who weeps over his dead love in between bouts of smashing through walls and jumping out of a plane without a parachute (or at least one that opens in time), is somehow Fleming's Bond.

[katied]

Barbara & DC have it fixed in their heads that Bond films are really supposed to be serious

Yes, and that Emo Popeye, this creation of theirs who weeps over his dead love in between bouts of smashing through walls and jumping out of a plane without a parachute (or at least one that opens in time), is somehow Fleming's Bond.

And they've managed to convince a lot of Bond-dom of that.

[Dr. No]

[quote="Kristatos"
That doesn't necessarily mean a drop in movie ticket sales, though if EON are smart (big if, I know), Bond 23 will be lighter in tone than the depressing QoS. During a depression/recession, people want escapist entertainment, not holidays in other people's misery.[/quote] You are right, but I am thinking of MGM as a company just getting on its feet again, 2012 is the soonest production might start if everything goes perfect, I think it might be too late to dump almost $200 million dollars on a movie whne we will likely be in another recession/depression complete with the stock market crashing/ leveling out at 5000. The biggest point may be that the LOTR people are fighting to get there movies made and the Bond people have gone on vacation, this is the time when they should be working the hardest, the LOTR people are. The LOTR sequels will be out that much soon because of it. Before teh economy completely tanks.

IF I am looking for some escapist entertainment I would go to a moive with Craig's Spy, CR was a depressing movie, felt like I wasted my time instead of being rewarded for siting through it. From what everyone says QOS was even worse on teh depressing scale.

[Dr. No]

Barbara & DC have it fixed in their heads that Bond films are really supposed to be serious

Yes, and that Emo Popeye, this creation of theirs who weeps over his dead love in between bouts of smashing through walls and jumping out of a plane without a parachute (or at least one that opens in time), is somehow Fleming's Bond.

James Bond did some impressive things over 20 films but i never felt he was a superhuman before.

[Kristatos]

James Bond did some impressive things over 20 films but i never felt he was a superhuman before.

For some reason, I can't help thinking of Viz Comic's spoof tabloid interview with Lewis Collins, headlined "I killed a lion and was shot by a tank".

[katied]

Barbara & DC have it fixed in their heads that Bond films are really supposed to be serious

Yes, and that Emo Popeye, this creation of theirs who weeps over his dead love in between bouts of smashing through walls and jumping out of a plane without a parachute (or at least one that opens in time), is somehow Fleming's Bond.

James Bond did some impressive things over 20 films but i never felt he was a superhuman before.

The Bond as Super Mario stuff in CR is especially amusing.

[James]

Craig was like the Incredible Hulk in QoS, snapping door handles off and surviving falls that would kill ordinary people.

[katied]

Craig was like the Incredible Hulk in QoS, snapping door handles off and surviving falls that would kill ordinary people.

It takes a lot of will not to laugh at something like that..it's *so* cartoonish!

[carl stromberg]

I was watching one of the Bourne films on television the other night and cannot believe how the Bourne makers ripped off Babs and Craig's Bond reboot series.

[Kristatos]

I was watching one of the Bourne films on television the other night and cannot believe how the Bourne makers ripped off Babs and Craig's Bond reboot series.

Yeah, just like George Lucas totally ripped off Moonraker.

[Blowfeld]

Spyglass Partners Inch Closer To MGM Reins; Battle Royals Looms For James Bond Distribution Rights

s 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, but don't count out Paramount. That studio has been co-financing partners with Spyglass on Star Trek and the upcoming sequel. That has grown into a strong relationship. I'm told that Paramount is making an aggressive push to win that franchise, much the way that it captured the Marvel Entertainment deal before that enterprise was sold to Disney. That gave Paramount distribution rights to the Iron Man series and the upcoming films Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers. Obviously, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson hold a lot of say in where the films go, but it will be a hotly contested property--if MGM indeed stops functioning as a distributor. The appeal to such a move is, it shaves costs upfront. The downside is MGM will have to pay distribution fees down the road. Deadline was first to report the distribution outsourcing plan by the Spyglass duo, on June 29. It would mean major downsizing of those divisions.

Also in the mix are remakes of films that include Robocop, as well as development projects like the Robert Ludlum thriller The Matarese Circle, which at one time, had Denzel Washington attached to star with Tom Cruise, and David Cronenberg directing.

All this leaves the existing executive team headed by Mary Parent looking at the exit, but that is also no surprise. Parent put together an enviable slate, but only released one projects--Hot Tub Time Machine-- and watched another, The Zookeeper, become a big Sony Pictures Entertainment summer 2011 release after creditors plunged the studio into a state of paralysis as they put a "for sale" sign on the studio.

[FormerBondFan]

Why can't MGM just sell all The Hobbit rights to New Line?