By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Deals Getting Done
Miramax – Yawn.
After all the hype about this sale, I expect it to be one of the least significant events of the year. Apparently, Miramax will still roll out its last few films.
The story here will become interesting when the library is sold again.
MGM – Not so yawn.
Basically, the MGM creditors made their big move by deciding not to keep trying for a merger.
I expect the Lionsgate deal to get done in the next week for all the reasons I have previously mentioned… it’s too good a deal to not take and Lionsgate is probably in the best position to handle the big MGM-related product that they will now be funding. The opportunity is clear enough for Icahn to want it to happen. The only potential problem could come from Summit trying to outbid Lionsgate.
Essentially, look for Lionsgate (or whomever) to take on none of the MGM obligations, to commit about $700 million to The Hobbit, Bond, P&A for Bond, and a production fund of about $200 million for other films. Heck, they may even let Mary Parent hang around to shepherd the near-ready-to-go projects to “go.”
In any case, for the public, the only significance of this deal will be the greenlights on Hobbit and Bond.
Sadly for the MGM creditors, there won’t be a significant recovery on the library and that will remain by far the most significant asset of MGM, before and after this deal.
It will be fun to see Icahn get crazy when the boys at Lionsgate spend $100k to put their logo on top of that building in Century City though.