Spyglass near to closing a deal with MGM

[katied]

At this point the Bond franchise is effectively in a vegetative state. It's only the fanboys that want to keep it alive(and like to imagine that the Bond franchise still has a chance)

[Blowfeld]

Vegetative probably best describes it, I think it will come back, in a necessitated new form with a new actor. Doctor Who uses the same trick to excite and reinvigorate a 50 year old adventure serial. Bond captures the imagination of the world, for the near future Bond will have a place and a reason to come back. That may change if other movie makers fill the void Bond left (since 2002).

[katied]

In a vegetative state, but it'll make a miraculous recovery.


There'll be a new Bond who's not Craig,which won't be popular with the diehards that wanted Craig to stick around as long as possible, but f*** it.

[Dr. No]

I forgot it was 3 years not 4 when Brosnan got fired. Well 2 years almost 3 years and it was 4 years between movies for Eon but not pre-production. At this rate Craig is dog meat. Well past his expiration date too. Dalton left after 5 years when they were starting pre-production and he looks much younger at 50 years old than Craig does at 40.

I don't think Craig will want to come back unless he fall s on his face. All he wanted Bond for was a leg up and he got that.

[katied]

I forgot it was 3 years not 4 when Brosnan got fired. Well 2 years almost 3 years and it was 4 years between movies for Eon but not pre-production. At this rate Craig is dog meat. Well past his expiration date too. Dalton left after 5 years when they were starting pre-production and he looks much younger at 50 years old than Craig does at 40.

I don't think Craig will want to come back unless he fall s on his face. All he wanted Bond for was a leg up and he got that.

Word to all of this. Unless, by some freak of nature one of his non-Bond films becomes a hit.But I doubt that will happen.Hopefully if Babs asks him to come back after a long hiatus, he'll have the good sense to say no.

[Kristatos]

There'll be a new Bond who's not Craig,which won't be popular with the diehards that wanted Craig to stick around as long as possible, but f*** it.

I'm sure they'll all be cheering on the new guy and pretending they never liked Craig in the first place in no time.

[katied]

Given Babs' taste in men,finding a new Bond will be more about looks and boneability( d**n! he's he's not Craig!) ) than actual talent.

[FormerBondFan]

You might well have this English/Irish fellow as Bond.

[Blowfeld]

More Hobbit news from a different source

Oct 4 2010 05:04 PM ET

Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit': Is it closer to a green light?
by Nicole Sperling
Categories: Movie Biz, News

The drama surrounding Peter Jackson’s production of The Hobbit continues: The L.A. Times reported Saturday that the film is close to a green light while the N.Y. Times confirmed the news and added that the two epic films will be shot in 3-D. So where does the drama come in? Producer/co-writer Philippa Boyens spoke out out on New Zealand’s public radio about whether or not the film will be shot in her home country due to a brewing labor dispute. One thing is true: As of Monday morning, nothing has changed. Peter Jackson is still not officially the director of the film, which will be split into two parts. MGM, a co-financier and 50/50 rights holder on the project, still does not have a final restructuring plan in place, and, as such, production on the studio’s most prized asset cannot move forward. And Warner Bros., the other co-financier, is still deciding where the movie will be shot. This heap of uncertainty has made The Hobbit one of the most challenging films to ever get into production, even more so than Jackson’s acclaimed Lord of the Rings trilogy, which shot back-to-back after considerable studio wrangling.

One major issue that still needs to be resolved is whether or not The Hobbit will be filmed in New Zealand, Jackson’s native land and the locale for the original Lord of the Rings movies. Due to a proposed boycott by the Australian labor union that oversees New Zealand actors, Warner Bros. feels obligated to consider other filming locations where a work stoppage wouldn’t be of issue. Boyens told Radio New Zealand National that Warner accountants are looking into five or six different locales to film The Hobbit, including Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Eastern Europe, and, ironically enough, Australia. While the New Zealand Actors’ Equity had believed the studio would stick with New Zealand because Hobbiton has already been built in Jackson’s home country, that is not the case. Sources near The Hobbit confirm Boyens’ statement that filming in Hobbiton requires only a seven- to eight-day shoot. In fact, a likely scenario could involve staying in New Zealand for those eight days and moving the rest of the production elsewhere, a situation that would deal a severe financial blow to the country’s film infrastructure, which Jackson himself has buoyed immensely with the LOTR franchise and his WETA special effects studio.

Still, sources are confident that filming could get underway by January as intended. Warner and its New Line division have been busying themselves recently with, among everything else, clearing up rights issues that remained with the J.R.R. Tolkien estate. And MGM seems to be wrapping up its financial woes, with Spyglass’ Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber set to manage the studio following its financial restructuring. Assuming those issues are settled by January, Jackson is expected to sign on officially at that time. (The director is unwilling to officially attach himself if the first movie can’t be released by December 2012.)

All in all, despite the reams of drama surrounding this project, Bilbo Baggins returning to Middle Earth is a likely reality. Let’s just hope Jackson can capture an equal amount of drama on camera that he and the Hobbit team have experienced off.

This can be found at http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/10/ ... w-zealand/

[Blowfeld]

Looks like the Spyglass deal is going forward. Two stories from the WSJ and LA Times.

Also MGW's son talked about Bond 23, I'll post it in toto in a new thread.

Spyglass proposes MGM reorganization plan, including prepackaged bankruptcy [updated]
October 7, 2010 | 1:56 pm

[Update, 3:35 p.m.: MGM announced that under the proposed plan, its approximtaely 100 lenders will exchange their more than $4 billion in debt for 95.3% of the reorganized studio following its exit from bankruptcy.

Spyglass Entertainment and two of its subsidiary companies, Cypress Entertainment Group Inc. and Garoge, Inc., will merge into MGM and together control the remaining 4.7%. The subsidiaries own the first 15 films produced by Spyglass, including "Seabiscuit," "The Sixth Sense," and "Bruce Almighty," all of which will added to MGM's existing library of about 4,000 titles. Those 15 Spyglass movies are valued at about $85 million.

MGM's previous owners, such as private equity firms Providence Equity Partners, TPG Capital, Sony Corp. and Comcast will see their stakes wiped out.

MGM's secured lenders as of Oct. 4 must vote on the play by Oct. 22. If it is approved, the studio will immediately file a pre-packaged Chapter 11. The bankruptcy process is expected to last about 30 days, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The beginning of the solicitation of votes on Thursday means that MGM is no longer open to other offers. Companies that previously made acquisition or merger offers and have remained interested, including Warner Bros. and Lions Gate, may not make another bid unless the Spyglass plan is rejected by the debt holders.

Once MGM emerges from bankruptcy, it is expected to ramp up production after several years of very little activity. It will release about six films per year, including new James Bond Pictures and two films based on "The Hobbit" that it will co-finance with Warner Bros.

Current executives such as motion picture group chairman Mary Parent are expected to leave with severance packages. A number of Spyglass' 30 employees will likely join Barber and Birnbaum at MGM.]

The approximately 100 debt holders that control the fate of troubled Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer heard a presentation Wednesday from the chief executives of Spyglass Entertainment about their plans to restructure the company following a prepackaged bankruptcy.

Spyglass chiefs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum have signed a non-binding letter of intent to take over of MGM as co-CEOs and -chairmen under a deal negotiated with a group of MGM's leading creditors. However, the entire group of creditors, who would swap their $4 billion debt for most of the studio's equity, have yet to sign off on the plan. They are expected to vote on it by the end of the month.

More than 50% of MGM's creditors -- who together own at least two-thirds of its debt -- must endorse the plan for it to pass. The studio would then enter a prepackaged bankruptcy during which the debt would be converted to equity.

After more than a year of uncertainty as debtors debated the studio's future, people close to the situation say MGM's leadership faces intense pressure to reach a resolution by the time a seventh debt forbearance expires Oct. 29.

-- Claudia Eller and Ben Fritz

This story can be found at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/enterta ... uptcy.html

[Blowfeld]

* October 8, 2010, 10:34 AM ET

The Morning Leverage: There And Back Again For MGM?


By Mike Lucas

Mike Lucas for Dow Jones

In this morning’s media roundup:

News: Rated PPP for prepackaged bankruptcy plan? Yes, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is near the final stages of preparing a bankruptcy protection filing in a move that would curb the movie studio’s hefty debt and place it under the management of the two founders of Spyglass Entertainment Holdings LLC, reports The Wall Street Journal.

MGM was taken private in a $5 billion in 2005 by Providence Equity Partners LLC, TPG Capital LP, DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, Quadrangle Group LLC, Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp. The studio is saddled with more than $4 billion in debt from the deal. Spyglass is backed by Cerberus Capital Management LP.

So what does this mean for movie-goers? Well, for one, MGM’s move stands to clear a path for “The Hobbit,” the planned two-part movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy tale, to begin production. For Bilbo!

This story can be found at http://blogs.wsj.com/privateequity/2010 ... n-for-mgm/

[Mazer Rackham]

What you need to know about MGM.

Blu-ray Hasn't Helped. MGM's DVD revenues fell from $394.7 million in 2008 to $69.8 million in the 2010. Quark didn't help the 2008 numbers, it had the most lack luster sales of any Bond movie in recent history on top of that sales precipitously dropped after initial release.

MGM paid Fox a distribution fee of $22.2 million handling for its DVDs and Blu-ray.

James Bond is 30% of MGM’s revenue 50% of which is split with Danjaq AKA the Brocs.

The one bright spot was MGM’s Television licensing however that is not immune either dropping to $529m for 2010 (various aspects contribute to these numbers and differences year to year. To complex to get into at the moment). Of the $529m received for TV Licensing those monies are split with numerous other parties (guilds, actors, directors and such), what MGM actually received from incoming revenue when all was said and done was under $84m, operating cost for 2010 were $135.9 million leaving them $52m in the red.

That's the MGM problem in a nut shell, not going over the dept holders dilemma for the umpteenth time.

Bond despite being big numbers on the surface is not an effective turn around of the $300m+ investment.

[Blowfeld]

poirot at Alt 007 forum has some insights. Both stories are from today. Sir Peter talking about all the difficulties concerning the MGM bankruptcy leaves further doubts about the Bond situation in my mind.

One reason this is all so fascinating is because of the number of variables involved. For example, Spyglass needs The Hobbit to get MGM back on its feet, yet The Hobbit needs MGM back on its feet before it can proceed.

Adding to the confusion is that fanboy sites have been treating every single rumor as if all has been magically resolved. So we end up with a lot of days like today, in which a big announcement was supposed to happen but didn't. Here's a couple of stories which address both the rumors and MGM's latest plot twist.


Peter Jackson: Hobbit Still Waiting On Green Light

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=29160

This past week the internet has been swamped with speculation that The Hobbit is just moments away from being greenlit with Jackson replacing Guillermo del Toro at the helm, and shooting set to start in January with a 2012 release for part one and a 2013 release for part 2, both in 3D. Well, hold your Shadowfaxes. Not so fast.

"We’ve seen these reports before, reports saying there was going to be a greenlight in a couple of days — well, a week’s gone by and there isn’t one," adds Jackson. "You can’t believe everything you read. There is only one thing you want to believe and that’s when the studio announces a greenlight. As far as I’m aware that’s not going to be today."

"i keep hearing positive things. Everyone’s working very hard. There’s a lot of people at Warner Bros. who are working around the clock trying to manoeuvre through the MGM complexities. MGM is a company that is about to go bankrupt and in a way they are about to take The Hobbit into bankruptcy hell with them when they go down."
"Warners are trying to extract The Hobbit out of the bankruptcy hell before it happens. It is just so complicated I can’t even put my head into it. It’s all to do with American copyright laws, bankruptcy laws. A lot of Warner Bros. lawyers are working round the clock at the moment trying to make it happen so let’s see."


Hobbit makers 'still waiting' on MGM deal

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment ... d=10679085

Sir Peter Jackson's company Wingnut Films is "still waiting" for a green light for its planned adaptation of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, despite reports from Los Angeles of an imminent deal to rescue the financially troubled MGM studios.

And in a separate development, attempts by the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) to settle a dispute between Hobbit producers and actors' unions has failed, according to industry sources, as the apparent stalemate continues over the union's bid for a collective contract for Hobbit actors.

Sir Peter's spokesman, Matthew Dravitzki, said that was only speculation, and - after 18 months - the producers were "still waiting"

"We have to wait until it's all finalised, I think. We haven't heard anything."

"Who knows how long it will be? We hope it's soon but we're not in a position to comment because those things happen in LA and we'll probably find out about the same time you do."

[Blowfeld]

Lions Gate makes another run at MGM

In a surprise move, Lions Gate Entertainment has made another merger proposal to MGM lenders, potentially upsetting a proposed prepackaged bankruptcy plan that would hand debt-holders about 95% of the studio, according to people close to the matter.

The development comes one day before Lions Gate is scheduled to square off in a Canadian court with dissident shareholder Carl Icahn.

Lions Gate's proposal, which would give MGM lenders a 55% stake in the merged company, would combine Hollywood's leading independent movie and television studio with one of industry's oldest, but most financially crippled, studios with an extensive film library.

The proposed merger appears to be a defensive move on the part of Lions Gate management, which has been under assault by Icahn for more than a year.

MGM's current bankruptcy plan calls for Spyglass Entertainment principals Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum to take over the management of the studio along with a minority ownership stake of just under 5%. That plan still has to be approved by approximately 100 MGM lenders. The votes are due Oct. 22.

If the lenders end up favoring an alternative bid from Lions Gate or any other party, they're on the hook to pay Spyglass a breakup fee of $4 million to $5 million.

The wild card in any scenario is Icahn. Although he's been battling Lions Gate management, claiming the company has been poorly run, he has also signaled that he'd be willing to consider a merger between Lions Gate and MGM, which many industry observers consider logical.

At the same time, Icahn recently has been accumulating debt in MGM, fueling speculation that he might make another run at MGM.

In June, Lions Gate was in merger talks with MGM after previously making a bid to buy the hobbled studio for $1.4 billion. Lions Gate was told its offer was too low.

This can be found at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/enterta ... t-mgm.html

[Blowfeld]

Carl Icahn and Lions Gate Won’t Leave MGM Alone

By Shira Ovide

The long, strange script for the MGM movie company continues.

The legendary film studio behind the “James Bond” and “Rocky” films announced plans to file for bankruptcy protection after it took on more debt than the company could handle. But Carl Icahn and fellow small fry movie house Lions Gate won’t let MGM go gently into the Chapter 11 night.

Lions Gate and Icahn, who own about one-third of Lions Gate’s shares, have been pushing for a combination with MGM, which instead is pursuing a deal to be taken over by creditors through bankruptcy. Under the current proposal, a small production company known as Spyglass would then manage MGM and own a small stake.

“On October 11, the Company sent a proposal to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (“MGM”) regarding a potential business combination between the Company and MGM,” Lions Gate said in an SEC filing today. Lions Gate has not released the letter yet or disclosed details of its offer. According to the filing, the combined company would be owned by shareholders of Lions Gate and MGM’s creditors, which include…Carl Icahn.

The SEC filing said Icahn and the company’s two other largest shareholders, MHR Fund Management and Capital Research Global Investors, support a mash up of MGM and Lions Gate. Now we will have to wait to hear what MGM’s debt holders think. Will it be Spyglass, which helped bring “Get Him to the Greek” and “G.I. Joe” to the screen, or Lions Gate, whose latest offerings include “Saw 3D?”

This can be found at http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/10/12/c ... mgm-alone/

[Blowfeld]

MGM SPlyglass Update: And the beat goes on edition

Not so fast: MGM creditors ask for delay of Spyglass vote

MGM debt holder Franklin Templeton Investments has sent a letter to the studio's board on behalf of other creditors asking to delay by three weeks a vote scheduled for next Friday to ratify a "prepackaged" bankruptcy plan that calls for the company to be taken over by the management of Spyglass Entertainment, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The move would give MGM's approximately 100 debt owners extra time to consider a last-minute merger proposal made by Lions Gate Entertainment on Monday.

A delay in voting on the Spyglass deal would be a strong signal that the Lions Gate offer is being taken seriously by the creditors who are determining MGM's fate. If the Oct. 22 deadline remains in place, the prepackaged bankruptcy plan that would erase the studio's more than $4 billion in debt, give creditors 95% of its equity, and put Spyglass co-chief executives Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum in charge would remain the most likely course of action in the immediate future.

It's unclear how MGM's board of directors will respond to the letter and whether a majority of creditors also want more time to consider Lions Gate's offer.

One key figure sure to agree with Franklin Templeton is Carl Icahn, who owns 12% of MGM's debt and is the largest shareholder in Lions Gate. He has publicly endorsed the merger proposal.

Representatives for Franklin Templeton and MGM declined to comment.

This story can be found at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/enterta ... -vote.html

[Blowfeld]

Looks as if it may be a looong winter for Bond

Sloan arranger - Ex-MGM chief brought Icahn into Lionsgate bid

Former MGM Chief Harry Sloan orchestrated the 11th-hour bid by Lionsgate and its biggest investor, Carl Icahn, for financially troubled MGM, The Post has learned.

Sloan, who is a close personal friend of Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer, persuaded Icahn to back Lionsgate's run at MGM, potentially scuttling a rival deal with Spyglass Entertainment, according to sources involved in discussions.

Sloan stepped down as CEO of the struggling movie studio last year but remains on the board as chairman.

According to one source, Icahn agreed to back an MGM-Lionsgate merger in exchange for board seats. The proposal calls for a new 10-person board, with two seats reserved for Icahn. He may give one of them to his son, Brett.

Yesterday, MGM pushed back the vote to approve the Spyglass deal until Oct. 29 after bondholders asked for more time to consider the Icahn-Lionsgate proposal delivered to the board on Tuesday. MGM had scheduled the vote for next Friday.

They were due to vote on a rival offer from Spyglass Entertainment to move MGM towards a prepackaged bankruptcy. That deadline was October 22, it has now been pushed back to October 29, according to a source familiar with talks.

Separately, some creditors have formed an ad-hoc committee to swap the latest information on the rival deals. That committee is separate from MGM's steering committee, which needs to persuade two-thirds of debt-holders to approve any prepackaged bankruptcy.

One proposal calls for MGM to be managed by Spyglass chiefs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum. They would roll their small private production company into MGM as part of a pre-packaged bankruptcy process that would eliminate MGM's $4 billion debt load. A rep for MGM declined comment.

The Lionsgate deal would give MGM creditors 55 percent of the combined company after MGM files for bankruptcy. The new company would be publicly traded.

this story can be found at http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/s ... IUhDLub0aN

[katied]

Fans will keep their hopes up..the consensus among the diehards seems to be that things will get going sooner (4-6 months) rather than later(a year or more). IMO it's more likely that it will be the latter. Only a few months seems awfully soon.Stranger things have happened, though.

[Dr. No]

Isn't this a worse deal they get 55% of mgm instead of 95%

[Blowfeld]

Ken Van der Meeren | October 17, 2010
Staff Reporter

MGM Studios' struggle to stay afloat has been making headlines for over a year.

Who will buy them? And who can afford to take on the massive debt of over $4 billion?

In the meantime, fans have been left to chew their nails, waiting to learn the fate of a number of film projects.

The studio’s plight put a halt to a new installment of James Bond 007 with Daniel Craig, and up until recently also Peter Jackson’s "The Hobbit," which is being co-produced with Warner Bros.

"The Hobbit" faces numerous other issues; Jackson is fighting the Screen Actors Guild in his native New Zealand over taking non-union actors.

In September 2009, Stephen Cooper took over as CEO of MGM to save it from financial ruin. He is a financial rescue specialist whose credits include a tenure as CEO of Krispy Creme Donuts.

His first action was to tell MGM’s 40 plus equity and bondholders to raise $130 million to keep the company afloat. If they didn’t do so, their investment would be worth nothing.

Cooper negotiated with the company’s more than 100 credit holders to delay bank loan repayments while MGM looked for a buyer.

The prolonged vetting procedure could be reaching its conclusion with a Spyglass Entertainment deal, which involves Spyglass merging with MGM and taking a 4 to 5 percent equity stake, and a bankruptcy plan that would leave Spyglass management heading the new company.

The diverse number of companies that bid for MGM and their debt included Time Warner; their bid was rejected for being less than $2 billion.

A $2 billion joint offer from the Bond film producers, Barbara Broccoli, and major Bollywood player Sahara India Pariwar was also rejected last month.

The Spyglass deal was meant to have reached a conclusion next week, but Carl Icahn, a major shareholder in Lions Gate, launched a rival bid. Lions Gate was one of the first names in the hat before the bidding process during the time when Cooper took charge.

The two film companies, Spyglass and Lions Gate, are now most likely to do a deal for control of MGM Studios. Both are keen to take on MGM’s 4,000 plus film titles, and run alongside major Hollywood studios like 20th Century Fox and Walt Disney.

Lions Gate’s three largest shareholders support the proposal: Carl Icahn, Mark Rachesky’s MHR Fund Management and Gordon Crawford’s Capital Research Global Investors. With Lions Gate’s share prices rising 21 cents to $7.65 upon the news, it looks like Wall Street supports the deal too.

The proposal will see Lions Gate combine with MGM and gain 45 percent of the new company and give MGM debtholders a 55 percent stake, in exchange for $1.8 billion.

The new date set for a decision is in three weeks. The saga is, however, far from over; news of "The Hobbit" greenlight has emboldened MGM debtholders.

"The Hobbit" is expected to gain high box-office returns, and has increased the debtholders asking price.

This story can be found at http://www.neontommy.com/news/2010/10/w ... -lionsgate