From EON With Love
Phil Hitchen - Associate
Ben Hoyle, Arts Correspondent at The Times reported yesterday that EON Productions, the producer of the James Bond films, has announced that the 23rd installment in the series has been postponed indefinitely because of the financial woes of its distributor, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
If you are a corporate buyer or investor you are only going to buy or invest in MGM if it makes commercial sense and you will get a return.
If a major factor in MGM income stream is the rights from the “Bond” films a buyer or investor will want to know that those rights and income stream are in place.
If there were few potential buyers or investors in the current climate the possibility of buying or investing in an MGM which doesn’t have the rights or the income from them in terms of new content is going to be a major put off.
I would be saddened if it causes any further delay with “The Hobbit” which has already been delayed due to contract/IPR disputes.
It was reported in the Times yesterday that “MGM is $3.7 billion (£2.4 billion) in debt and has been up for sale since November. Now Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions appear to have run out of patience.
“Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on ‘Bond 23’ indefinitely,” they said. “We do not know when development will resume.”
One of the principal victims of the delay appears to be Pinewood, the venerable British studios where the Bond films are largely made and where weeks of shooting time now need to be filled at short notice. Pinewood referred all inquiries to EON yesterday, which would not expand beyond Wilson and Broccoli’s statement.
The other loser is MGM itself. As the longest running film franchise in the world the Bond series is one of the pivotal attractions to any prospective buyer of the studio. EON may now try to use the stalemate to engineer an exit from its relationship with MGM to a healthier distributor.
MGM has other assets — its name and roaring lion logo, the United Artists operations, a library with more than 4,000 titles and a stripped-back film and television operation. But it is Bond, and its stake in Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of The Hobbit, that were expected to be “the two big drivers of a deal”, Mr Goodridge said.”
Tags: EON, James Bond, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM, MGM James Bond, phil hitchen, solicitors manchester
Uncategorized | Ralli | 
April 22, 2010 2:23 pm
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