MGM has a bit of a problem. Due to its prolonged financial problems, it can’t really afford to do anything, with already filmed movies like Red Dawn in limbo as the studio can’t afford to release them, and others like the next James Bond movie currently shut down, as it has no cash to actually shoot it. However, the longer MGM goes without new product, the less valuable it becomes as a company.
So despite having to seek out another debt extension recently as it tries to find a buyer, MGM has paid out in the mid-six figures for Saw IV-VII writer Matrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan to come up with a feature film script based on the 1963-1965 TV series, The Outer Limits. The studio insists the deal was put together before the current financial crisis, and it’s just that the writers and being paid now, while others suggest the deal has only just come together.
In some ways it makes sense, as not only does it ensure that any potential buyer will have product ready to be shot, but it’s also evidence of the rich heritage in MGM’s library that a new owner could dip into. However The Outer Limits presents an unusual problem, as it was an anthology series, with a different, Twilight Zone-ish, story each episode. Anthologies haven’t tended to work well on the big screen, but if they just pick a single strange tale, it would become pointless calling it the Outer Limits. Presumably the actual plans will become clear, if and when MGM finds a buyer. (Source: Variety)