A dastardly villain is no match for James Bond, the suave secret agent who has been saving the world for almost 50 years. No, Bond has met his match in the form of a bankrupt movie studio who has shelved the 23rd Bond film indefinitely. But how has MGM, one of the major production companies, succumbed to such a fate?
The film studio is facing insolvency with a huge $3.7billion debt and is currently owned by a group of companies including Sony Corp and Com Cast Corp. Time Warner and Lions Gate films are among a coalition of companies that have expressed interest in buying the ailing studio, but a commitment is yet to be made. The studio’s motto Ars Gatia Artis – Art for Art’s sake – is sadly at the behest of financiers.
A prolific and dominant film studio from the silent era through to the golden age of Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s and founded by Samuel Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer in 1924, the studio struggled to compete with other hit making studios and became owned by various media companies in later decades.
Metro Goldwyn Mayer is the owner of around 4,000 movie titles, including Bond, one of the most profitable film franchises ever, and the Pink Panther series. The studio – famous for its roaring lion opener – also owns the rights to two Hobbit films which are wallowing in pre-production hell.
In June, Guillermo Del Toro, the visionary director of Pan’s Labyrinth, announced he would not direct Bilbo Baggins' first adventure.
“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming The Hobbit, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life,” he said.
The films financial potential must be baiting executives as The Hobbit would surely reap dividends for MGM. The other tales from Middle Earth, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, made an estimated $6billion (£3.2b) worldwide in ticket, DVD and merchandise sales. They also won 16 Academy Awards.
The rumour mill began spinning at New Year with news that Frost/Nixon writer, Peter Morgan, would pen the new James Bond script. Then Sam Mendes, the acclaimed British director, expressed interest in working on the film. Rachel Weisz was even rumoured to play a villain in the new film.
Bond and The Hobbit will undoubtedly be sold off to other film studios. But whether MGM, creators of Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, will survive to add to their impressive back catalogue is as certain as Bond marrying M.
