The ongoing saga of the rights to the Terminator continues with the news that following the company that currently owns them, Halcyon, going bankrupt and being forced to sell the rights, it appears they’ve chosen a preferred bidder – Lionsgate, the company behind the Saw franchise.
According to Deadline Hollywood, Lionsgate has been chosen as a stalking horse bidder, which is “An initial bid on a bankrupt company’s assets from an interested buyer chosen by the bankrupt company. This allows the distressed firm to avoid receiving lowball bids on its assets.” Apparently Lionsgate has offered $15 million, plus 5% of the gross on any future films/TV series, which is a lot less than the $25 million that Halcyon paid for the rights two years ago, but perhaps reflects the current economic situation.
However, it should be noted that this isn’t a done deal yet, and Lionsgate’s initial bid could just be there to give a floor price against with others have to compete (the likes of Sony, Warner and Summit have also expressed an interest). It would be quite nice though if Lionsgate did win, as Terminator is the only truly massive blockbuster franchise outside the control of the major studios, so it would be good to keep it that way. Other bidders now have until February 4th to make their offers (and as a stalking horse bidder, lucky old Lionsgate gets $750,000 even if it doesn’t win, as a ‘breaking-up fee’).
In the past most of the companies that have been involved with the Terminator have been beset by endless bankrupcties, failures and problems (you can read more about that in our feature, ‘Is The Terminator Franchise Cursed’), so it might be worth steering clear of the rights completely.