FANS of the Terminator films are wondering about the future of the franchise after producers filed for bankruptcy in Los Angeles.
Three companies belonging to Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
On the same day, the pair sued their primary investor, Santa Barbara hedge fund Pacifor.
Anderson and Kubicek are owners of the Terminator franchise rights and producers of Terminator Salvation, which was released in the USA in May and in the UK in June and starred Christian Bale and Sam Worthington (pictured above).
Anderson and Kubicek are said to have failed to make a payment demanded by Pacificor, which financed their $30million purchase of the Terminator rights in 2007 and made two subsequent loans to their Halcyon production firm worth $9million.
The duo said they couldn’t make the payment because of a lien (legal claim) that Pacificor placed on Dominion Holdings, a company through which they earned their producing fees on the movie.
The newspaper said Anderson and Kubicek are set to earn the greater of $5million or 5 per cent of the movie’s revenue.
Depending on the outcome of the bankruptcy process and the lawsuits, Pacificor could end up controlling the Terminator rights, which served as collateral for its loan.
The LA Times says the pair’s lawsuits allege that Terminator Salvation producer Moritz Boorman “intentionally pushed the film over budget in an effort to force Anderson and Kubicek into further financial distress so they would be unable to pay back their loan to Pacificor and he could eventually buy the rights to Terminator.”
Boorman, who is not a defendant in the lawsuit, told the LA Times: “I have no idea what they’re talking about.”
Anderson and Kubicek are developing another Terminator movie. If they do end up losing the rights, the new owners would probably still proceed with a fifth instalment.
Box office data shows that Terminator Salvation sold $370million worth of tickets, against a production budget of $200million. The film was seen by some analysts as a disappointment after it did not recoup its costs in the USA alone and was heavily boosted by overseas sales. But the DVD and Blu-ray release later this year is sure to do well and bring in further income.
Salvation’s box office was respectable, coming between Wolverine’s $363million and Star Trek’s $382million (although both these cost $50million less to make and were therefore more profitable), although nowhere near the spectacular heights of the $866million – so far – for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and the $825million for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Sequels have been greenlit for Wolverine and Star Trek and I think a further Terminator film is very likely, with or without Anderson and Kubicek as producers. But I wouldn’t be surprised if production costs are kept much tighter next time around.
Sources: Los Angeles Times (lawsuits), Los Angeles Times (bankruptcy). Box Office Mojo (box office data).
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