Sony Joins Bidding War for Rights to Terminator Franchise
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.
Got news? Click here to submit it!
Fight for the future one price tag at a time in the Dread Central forums?
Categorized:
