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The James Bond film franchise is likely to be rescued by a deal to run MGM, the debt-ridden movie studio behind the super spy’s screen escapades, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The newspaper reports that Spyglass Entertainment, the studio responsible for hits such as ‘The Sixth Sense’ and ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ has beaten rivals Warner Bros to run MGM, whose financial woes have threatened to derail the new Bond movie and Peter Jackson's screen adaptation of ‘The Hobbit’, the prequel to the ‘Lord of the Rings’.
The report said that Spyglass heads, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, would run MGM as co-chief executives and that Spyglass would merge parts of its film library with MGM's, with the reorganised company to be valued at $US1.9 billion.
MGM, which is eyeing another forbearance date to avoid bankruptcy will have to restructure approximately $4 billion in debt under the rumoured deal.
The Wall Street Journal said that a deal could be done as soon as this week.
If it does, Spyglass is likely to push through the financing for ‘The Hobbit’ and the new Bond film, news.com.au reports.
Jackson was to be only producing the adaptation - supposed to be two movies - and had lined up another director,
Guillermo del Toro, to helm the project but Del Toro quit earlier this year when MGM's money woes delayed financing of the movie.
Jackson is now expected to direct the films himself with the hope he will replicate the success of his ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.
