Terminator Rights Sold to Hedge Fund Pacificor
Posted 02.10.10 by Ryan
In 2007, Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek, and their Halcyon Co. purchased the Terminator rights for $25 million. Halcyon produced a TV show, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and the movie sequel Terminator Salvation. Then The Sarah Connor Chronicles was canceled, and despite Salvation making $371 million in worldwide box office, Halcyon declared bankruptcy. Anderson and Kubicek claimed that their lender, Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor, pushed them into defaulting on their loan. In order to resolve their debts, the Terminator rights went up for auction. Lionsgate made the first bid, then Sony countered. Neither movie studio won the Terminator rights.
According to Deadline Hollywood, the rights went to debt-holder Pacificor rather than either studio. Lionsgate and Sony had joined forces to win the bid, with Lionsgate planning a reboot of the franchise that would get "back to basics, with real emotional stories, and effects that will be secondary." However, the Sony-Lionsgate team-up was not willing to go as high as Pacificor's $29.5 million dollar bid, so they lost out on the rights.
What Pacificor intends to do with the franchise is unknown at this time, though the move does seem to suggest that, in the current economy, loaning money to producers isn't as financially sound as buying up the rights to the movie franchises themselves.