Comments on: MGM Bankrupt? The Hobbit Needs a Bailout

By: pinlight

pinlight — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:48:45 +0000

Unfortunately, MGM’s troubles also affected all its other independent features. Meaning, award-winning films like ours have to regroup and find another distributor mid-stream. No recourse when a distributor fails. Everything falls back on the producer just as he’s struggling to recoup his investment.

By: vargas

vargas — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:46:00 +0000

I don’t feel bad for them. This was the same studio that wanted to “Dunisize” the Lord of the Rings back when Peter, Fran and Phillipa were shopping their script around.

What I mean by that, is that they wanted to take a complex, sprawling epic story like LOTR and make it into *gasp* – one film. And when Peter & Co. said that it couldn’t be done that way MGM basically told them to get lost. It wasn’t until they saw the finished product (how to make a sprawling epic the RIGHT way)and how financially successful it was that they decided to work with Jackson on The Hobbit. If they go under another studio will release it. No big deal to me.

By: Rodney

Rodney — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:36:47 +0000

Invested in.. not buy.

By: Theocrat

Theocrat — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:16:52 +0000

MGM has the rights to Bond and Stargate as their two long term holdings. With Stargate SGU TV show returning to the air waves on SyFy, and the direct to TV Stargate SG1 series making a return sometime in January they have a strong library.
It is more about the library’s that MGM owns that will be important. If they were to go under, the bidding process on the library could become important to fans, as some of those movies that are not out on DVD/BluRay, might be released (although I do not know of any specifically).
Theocrat Issak

By: Matt W

Matt W — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:22:01 +0000

Their contract at the parks was up and Disney didn’t want to pay or the name anymore.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:10:43 +0000

The Lion’s Roar will always be there… the MGM classics are classic and will always be there. I’m not going to shed too many tears if the current company “MGM” goes under. Let’s face it, they’re not exactly Warner Brothers anymore.

That said, I highly doubt The Hobbit won’t be filmed, or even delayed too much. If the rights are sold, I find it hard to believe they’d want to screw this up. They want Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies (even if the first won’t be directed by Peter Jackson)… they’re going to be a guaranteed cash cow. Part of me thinks The Hobbit could meet or even exceed the profits of the LOTR films… in addition to all the fans of the movies and the books, The Hobbit is more attractive to kids. I’m sure they’ll try to de-kiddify it some, but I still think this is going to be a more watchable, less scary movie that could probably capture a larger slice of that under 10 audience… and their parents.

By: Darek-T

Darek-T — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:56:49 +0000

Those are all old movies. and if you look at their movie like projects they do they’ve done about 370 sense 2000.
And even with inflation only one movie of this decade is on their top 10 list on Boxofficemojo.

By: Darek-T

Darek-T — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:52:18 +0000

Well when you look at there more recent releases
Charlie Bartlet- 5mil world wide
Pathology-3mil ww
Igor-actually made 30 mil ww and only cost 25 mil to make, but also they probably spent a bit of money on ads and theaters get some cut.
How to Lose Friends and Alienate people- I Simon Pegg movie with Megan Fox as supporting, what more is there to say.
Valkerie-did ok at best
Pink Panther 2- how do you think it did?
Fame-Do you really think this is gunna make any money at all?

By: obi-wan kubrick

obi-wan kubrick — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:54:51 +0000

Didn’t Sony Pictures but MGM years ago?

By: Jay E

Jay E — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:00:44 +0000

My question is “How did they go bankrupt”?
Yes, the obvious answer is they spent more money than they made, but on what?

Many studios that close do so due to financial failures of films (Cutthroat Island, Titan AE, Heaven’s Gate, Final Fantasy, etc). So what flops did MGM release? Shouldn’t they be living high on the continued sales of their previous films (Bond?) or their other library assents like the Orion films (Terminator 1, Robocop series, Amadeus, Platoon, Dances with Wolves, Silence of the Lambs, etc)?