Studios Miss Out as Rights to 'Terminator' Franchise Sell for $29.5 Million
Sony and Lionsgate were in the game, but the rights went to...
Deadline is reporting tonight that while both Lionsgate and Sony Pictures were bidding to get their hands on the rights to any and all upcoming Terminator films, television programs and any other franchise spin-offs, neither walked away the winner. Instead Halcyon Holding Corp sold the rights for $29.5 million to Santa Barbara hedge fund Pacificor, the same group Halcyon sued back in August and is partly the reason Halcyon had to sell the Terminator rights, as they faced Chapter 11 due to monies due the hedge fund.
Nikki Finke's report says Sony Pictures Entertainment's president of worldwide affairs Peter Schlessel was caused to "storm out" of the Downtown LA offices when it became clear Pacificor "was willing to pay almost any amount of money for Terminator."
Pacificor lent Halcyon the money necessary to purchase the rights to the franchise back in May of 2007 when producers Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar sold them to Halcyon for $30 million. When Halcyon couldn't pay back their debt the franchise went up for sale. As for that lawsuit I mentioned, there were actually a pair of $30 million lawsuits: One against Santa Barbara hedge fund Pacificor, which lent them money to buy the rights to the science-fiction film series, and another against a former employee of Pacificor who helped arrange the loans.
Here's a further snippet from an August 2009 Los Angeles Times article with complete details:
The lawsuit against [former vice president of business development at Pacificor, Kurt] Benjamin paints Anderson and Kubicek as a pair of relative naifs who were pushed into financial ruin by Benjamin, Mitchell and "Salvation" producer Moritz Borman.
It alleges that Benjamin hid the fact that he was working for Pacificor and represented himself as an independent agent in order to negotiate terms favorable to his employer. It also claims that he encouraged Anderson and Kubicek to unwisely spend Halcyon's own funds on producing a "Terminator Salvation" video game "so that it would not be able to meet its obligations and would therefore fall under the total control of Pacificor."
So now I guess we wait to see just what all of this means. Terminator Salvation made $372 million worldwide last year making it the sixteenth highest grossing film worldwide for 2009. Sounds to me as if there is still an audience, but can they improve on the mess that was that most recent film?
Rumors swirled back in December 2009 that Salvation helmer McG would return for an assumed fifth and sixth film based on some comments he made during a live Blu-ray commentary, but nothing has been confirmed on that front. Terminator Salvation was eyed as the first film in a proposed trilogy and it's now a waiting game to see if that happens.
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Lovely. So a predatory hedge-fund owns it? I'm sure that will lead to what's best for the franchise.
Ultimately, I guess I don't mind all that much either way… The first film was great, the second was the most impressive (though not as great, if that makes sense), and I never really needed anything more after that.
I absolutely loved Terminator 2: Judgment Day, it is possibly the greatest Sci-Fi film of all time. However, the series has just lost so much luster with the past two installments. These new directors just can't seem to be able to give audiences what they want. McG's efforts, while notable (what with the gritty, blasted, apocalyptic wasteland setting) weren't even as good as the third installment in the franchise.
I say this. Hire a director with some substance, slap the film with a darker "Hard-R" rating, and show us what we've all been wanting. THE WAR WITH THE MACHINES. Not right before the war (T3), Not right before the end of the war (Salvation) but the "actual" war.
I don't have much faith in a successful reboot/continuation of the series, but in the right hands I'd be willing to give the series yet another shot.
they need a real director with balls and not only movie stars!
I was actually rooting for lionsgate to take this one, shame really.
The third and fourth were mostly unnecessary for the franchise as a whole, except providing visual stimuli for stories already told in our imagination (and better). I'm interested to see what happens in future installments; but if its another unnecessary jaunt without anything to say, I'm calling it quits with the terninator saga.
If Pacificor wants to make any money off franchise, they're really going to have to slash the budget for T5. T3 was $200mil and probably didn't make its money back in theaters once you figure in marketing costs. T4 definitely didn't make its money back in theater, as it also had a $200mil budget.
So what Pacificor needs to do is go the same way as Fox is going with Narnia 3 and slash the budget. Narnia 3 is going to cost $120-130mil, as opposed to TLTWATW's $180mil and Prince Caspian's $225mil. That's $100mil less than its predecessor. Similarly, T5 shouldn't have a budget of more than $150mil. Less would probably be wise, because the franchise certainly isn't attracting any newcomers. Even if T5 is amazing, its chances of outperforming T4 are pretty low. And if it isn't amazing, T5 will crash and burn.
Actually, I'm surprised the franchise is still in such high commodity, what with the past two films underperforming. I'm interested in seeing how long we'll have to wait for the next movie.