Sony Joins Bidding War for Rights to Terminator Franchise
Steve Barton
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Lots of studios are vying for the rights to one of the most successful film franchises of all time, The Terminator. Lionsgate … Sony … honestly we don’t care who gets it as long as they keep it far away from McG and his pussy Terminators that seem to have an aversion to … well … terminating!
According to Variety:
Sony’s joined Lionsgate in the bidding on the rights to the “Terminator” franchise. The studio had no comment, but a source close to the bidding confirmed that Sony submitted a bid Thursday, the final day for submitting offers.
Lionsgate stepped up last month as the first bidder for the rights to the “Terminator” franchise with a “stalking horse” or floor bid of $15 million and a 5% cut of future gross receipts.
Halcyon Group put the franchise up for sale in September. The auction for the “Terminator” assets — which include the rights to future “Terminator” pics, TV series, DVDs and merchandise — will be held Monday at the offices of FTI Consulting in Los Angeles, followed by a bankruptcy court hearing two days later.
If Lionsgate doesn’t win the auction, it will receive $750,000 as a breakup fee from the winning bidder.
“Terminator Salvation,” the fourth film in the franchise, was produced by Halcyon with Warner Bros. handling domestic distribution and Sony taking international. It carried a production price tag of about $200 million and took in $371 million worldwide.
Halcyon paid Mario Kassar $30 million for the “Terminator” rights in 2007, then filed for Chapter 11 as a result of a dispute with hedge fund Pacificor, which financed the purchase. At that point Halcyon toppers Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek told the bankruptcy court that they valued the “Terminator” franchise above $70 million.
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