By Rob Bricken in
Movies
Tuesday, Feb. 9 2010 @ 9:47AM
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I've learned that the auction for the Terminator movie, TV program, and other spin-off rights just ended after a marathon bidding session today that stretched from 3 PM this afternoon until 8 PM tonight. Both Sony Pictures and Lionsgate separately were bidding for the franchise, and then joined up after the first round was completed. "We're going to fight one hell of a fight," a Lionsgate insider told me in advance. Its plans were for "a complete re-boot, back to basics, with real emotional stories, and effects that will be secondary.Alas, the studios didn't come away the winners -- which, I'm told, prompted a furious Sony Pictures Entertainment's president of worldwide affairs Peter Schlessel to "storm out" of the Downtown LA offices of FTI Capital Advisors holding the auction. (Sony had distributed Terminator 4: Salvation internationally.) Instead, Halcyon Holding Corp accepted the $29.5 million bid from, of all parties, the debtholder which pushed it into bankruptcy, Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor. (This is the same Pacificor whom Halcyon accused in a lawsuit of extortion, bribery, and fraud and demanded $30M in damages.)
So. Sony and Lionsgate -- fuck, Sony and anyone -- couldn't outbid the company that the Terminator rights holders had recently sued? Recently sued from more than they sold the whole fucking Terminator franchise to? Call me crazy, but I think some shenanigans might be going on here. Ah, well. The only real losers here are the Terminator fans. No big deal.
16 comments
Comments
demoncat said:
to me the outcome sounds like something out of a film seems some back door deals where made that wound up with the ones who hold the debt and forced the franchise to be sold winning the thing. which means unless some thing is done to get the rights away from Pasifico no more terminator. until they wind up making a nice deal to some studio for the rights. to do so. the Terminator has been terminated skynet is happy
Jerry said:
My head asplodes.
Upperdeck should have bought the franchise and then sold bootlegged DVDs on Ebay.
J.H. said:
Ifigured Cameron himself would've put a bid out there to reclaim his baby!
Anonymous replied to J.H.:
You mean Harlan Ellison (snerk)?
Some old nobody said:
...either Sony and Lionsgate COULDN'T outbid Pacificor, or Sony and Lionsgate DIDN'T outbid Pacificor? What did they do, fall asleep in the last half-hour of the auction? Has no one at either company ever sniped an auction on eBay?
Ramone said:
No worries, I gave up on Terminator two films ago and moved on.
AvengerZS said:
Still confused as to why people are bitching about Salvation. Yes, 2 is the best film in the franchise, but Salvation was great and unique addition to the movies. All my friends with respectable tastes and opinions loved it. But whatever. that is neither here nor there. You are right about Shenanigans though. Let's just hope Cameron doesn't retract his previous statement and get this franchise back. Last thing we need is his stupidity. Let him stick with his blue people.
JOE said:
In unrelated news, Sony is unveiling it's newest franchise: The Termination-er.
ZeroCorpse said:
So... We're certainly not getting any more TSCC episodes or straight-to-DVD movies, then?
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Oh well.
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I think it's time to put a fork in Terminator. It's done. Terminator, Aliens, and Predator all need to be allowed to rest in peace.
operations replied to ZeroCorpse:
I wish we could at least get a 2 hour DVD that cleared up that season 2 cliffhanger...
jedieb said:
I would loved for Cameron to get his baby back. It would have put the franchise back in the hands of a big time A-List director and away from the likes of McG. Cameron + Terminator = Epic.
I didn't hate Salvation, but it did leave me wanting more. I just think putting it back in the hands of Cameron, either as a director of producer would help the series get back to the same level of awesomeness as the first 2.
And yes, I liked Dances With Wolves on Pandora. It wasn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it doesn't deserve the bitter nerd backlash it's gotten. It sure as hell isn't the train wreck that Transformers 2 was.
Bill said:
I was over the Terminator franchise after the second movie. No biggie.
Nega said:
Too bad Asylum didn't get it. MEGA SHARK VS. TERMINATOR would've been....fun.
CarKrash said:
so uh.. no more Christian Bale movies?? I liked Salvation, and wanted to see the other two planned films.
Third Impact said:
Does this mean Skynet won or loss?
Third Impact said:
Does this mean Skynet won or lost?
