So last week, Nikki Finke reported that MGM studios was in trouble and basically made a plea to its shareholders for more cash. Apparently they were in knee-deep debt for $3.7 billion. They can’t even keep up in the interest payments, ouch.
MGM made a desperate plea for money because the studio had missed its numbers and was going to be out of funds very soon. “The implication was that it’s teetering on bankruptcy,” one source told me.
Part of the article said that “The Hobbit,” and the Bond series could be in trouble if MGM tanked. Maybe for MGM continuing to own them, but uhh, nothing is going stop those two properties from coming to the screen. Still, geek bloggers persisted and the chicken littles of the world worried up a storm about their geek properties and the sky falling. One geek friendly site, Collider saw the forest for the trees and wrote a little op-ed to its brethren wisely titled, “If You Think THE HOBBIT and JAMES BOND Are in ‘Peril,’ You’re an Idiot.”
Before worry could get any deeper or hysterical, MGM received some reprieve from lenders who have flushed them with new cash, but as Anne Thompson says, “[MGM’ will be relieved of three interest payments, there are miles to go before they come out in the clear.” THR says MGM has enough dough to proceed with its participation in “The Hobbit.” That pic doesn’t come out until 2011, so they better hope it does gangbusters. But really can they survive until then?
Nerd crisis averted… for now.