[Futureguy]

Originally Posted by Saquist

This explains the state of the Stargate Empire.

Possibly why they canceled SG Atlantis before its time and then offered SG Universe instead? Lower budget by means of newer actors getting paid less while having access to the already built props fro earlier SG series?

[TNG_Trekman]

Im more worried about the condition of the Hobbit movies.

[Futureguy]

Originally Posted by TNG_Trekman

Im more worried about the condition of the Hobbit movies.

I did not think of that! Wasn't that movie having production/director problems from the start anyway?

[Saquist]

Originally Posted by Futureguy

Possibly why they canceled SG Atlantis before its time and then offered SG Universe instead? Lower budget by means of newer actors getting paid less while having access to the already built props fro earlier SG series?

Exactly it had to be a factor and now SGU is dying fast...

[TNG_Trekman]

Originally Posted by Futureguy

I did not think of that! Wasn't that movie having production/director problems from the start anyway?

Im not sure about the beginning. All I know is that MGM's finacial problems is why Del Toro dropped out of directing. Sets are still being built and what not. I just think Peter Jackson should jump in and direct! He did a masterful job with the Lord of the Rings.

[Futureguy]

Originally Posted by Futureguy

If MGM did go bust, who would be the most likely to buy such properties as "Bond" and "Stargate", if they were not selectively sold to another studio by MGM to raise money?

If I remember correctly...Ted Turner, some long time ago, wound up with the rights to many, thoug not all of MGM's movies. Those rights transferred to (Time/Warner?) when Ted sold his company to them. Seems that TBS/TNT ran a lot of Bond marathons at one time? He may have just had temporary broadcast rights to Bond.

[starbase63]

Originally Posted by kevin

Their $4 Billion in debt - they seemingly don't have the money to put any projects in motion nor do they have anyone willing to give them the money to.

Plus, a James Bond film is these days an exorbitantly costly film (Quantum was reported to cost $200 million before promotion/advertising was spent on as well) to produce and would do very little to solve their issues on it's own. And at that kind of cost it's 2008 earnings of less than $600 million are unlikely to have made it profitable on it's theatrical run, though I have no idea what it earned on DVD/Blu-Ray etc.

The rights may have to transfer to get things going again.

Does MGM actually own the film rights to James Bond, or are they just licensed to MGM by Eon?

Or does the Ian Fleming Estate have a say in any of it?

[kevin]

As usual - Hollywood legalistics seems to make it involve a number of Companies - including Columbia and their owner Sony (as Columbia and MGM are owned by Sony it appears)


But the wiki resource has this info on EON -


''EON, a closely held (private and family) corporation, was started by film producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman in 1961, at the same time they partnered and sought financing for Dr. No the year before they formed the eponymously named Danjaq — which for legal reasons became EON's holding company from which it licenses the copyright protections allowing EON to produce the Bond films. Cubby Broccoli had been interested in the Bond novels rights for several years but was disuaded from making them project by his former partner. When they dissolved their relationship he was free to pursue the property, for which Saltzman, a novice to film production had taken a gamble to acquire. The two were introduced by a New York writer who was acquainted with both, and formed a partnership within a week of meeting. The enterprise was and is still very much a family business, including both wives and the principle partners, as well as several of their progeny, the latter group now carrying on their parents' work. Cubby almost immediately included Dana Broccoli's college aged son Michael G. Wilson in even the early films doing various production jobs and his engineering education was put to good use occasionally in some of the series' special effects.
In 1975 after nine Bond films, Harry Saltzman sold his shares of Danjaq to United Artists (the then-current Bond series distributor). Although Albert R. Broccoli died in 1996, EON Productions is still owned by the Broccoli family, specifically Albert R. Broccoli's daughter, Barbara Broccoli, and his stepson and her half-brother by actress Dana Wilson Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, who are the current producers of the James Bond films.
Albert R. Broccoli's name has appeared in the opening "presents" credit of every EON-produced James Bond film, and always as the very first name in the credits from The Spy Who Loved Me onwards. From Dr. No through The Man with the Golden Gun, the credit was "Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman present"; for some films Saltzman originally came first (and still does in the film itself and/or its original posters), but all present-day printed credits have been changed to list Broccoli first. After Saltzman left, the opening credit was simply "Albert R. Broccoli presents" through to GoldenEye (the last film made before Broccoli's death), even after Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson replaced him as producers. On all films since Broccoli's death, the opening credit is "Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions presents", with "Limited" usually added after "Productions" in the film proper.[1]
The copyrights & trademarks for the film properties (beginning with Dr. No) are held by Danjaq and United Artists Corporation; the latter was bought by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1981, but as an MGM subsidiary its name still appears in Bond copyright & trademark disclaimers to this day. Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008) were co-distributed with Columbia Pictures (which appeared along with Danjaq & United Artists in their copyright disclaimers), with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment assuming video rights to the former; MGM retained the video rights for the latter.
These EON productions are commonly referred to as "official" James Bond films, whereas the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale, the 1967 film spoof Casino Royale and Sean Connery's 1983 film Never Say Never Again are "unofficial" because they were not produced by EON and do not form part of the main canon (this also means that they lack familiar elements such as the James Bond Theme music and the opening Gunbarrel sequence).[2][3]


Since MGM bought United Artists (UA) and UA owned the copyrights and trademarks in association with Danjaq then I presume you could say that MGM 'owns' those rights - I think.

But I'm not sure how Columbia and Sony factor in, though I think they entered the frame during the last legal battle that ended with MGM acquiring the rights to remake Casino Royale in 2006.

[Quark]

It's ironic how Columbia Pictures made the 1967 spoof as well as the 2006 film.

[kevin]

Also found this today from Deadline -

http://www.deadline.com/2010/07/nola...ve-to-do-bond/

With some interesting comments about 'creativity' in Bond from some users as well.