Sony Submits Last Minute Bid for Terminator Franchise

Last we heard, Lionsgate held the top bid for the rights to the Terminator franchise, a $15 million purchase and a 5% cut of future gross. Variety now has word that Sony Pictures has submitted a big on Thursday, the last and final day to submit offers. The future of the Terminator franchise, which includes the rights to future Terminator films, TV series, DVDs and merchandise, will be decided on Monday. So check back then to learn who will be in control of the future of the Terminator franchise.

Hollywood Studios Lose Bid For Terminator Franchise Rights

The Terminator movie rights went up for auction today, and Sony Pictures and Lionsgate were bidding frantically back and fourth from 3:00pm to 8:00pm tonight. But as the dust cleared, neither movie studio came out the winner. Halcyon accepted a $29.5 million bid from a Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor, the debtholder which pushed the company into bankruptcy.Of course, this is subject to the approval by the bankruptcy court.

According to Finke’s source, “Sony and Lionsgate dropped out at just under $29.5 million when it became clear that Pacificor was willing to pay almost any amount of money for Terminator.” As part of the deal, Halcyon will keep the revenue streams from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation, and will receive $5 million for every Terminator movie produced in the future.

What this all means for the future of the Terminator franchise is unclear.  The last Terminator film earned $372 million worldwide theatrically. And while Arnold might soon be available for big screen offers, I’m not sure they could afford him. I’m not a money guy, but it seems to me that the smartest thing they could do is make the fifth Termiantor film for about half the estimated budget of Salvation, aiming in the $100-$120 million range.

Sony and Lionsgate Could Produce and Distribute Next Terminator Film; Will McG Direct?

The Terminator rights sale saga just keeps on going. At the beginning of this week, Sony and Lionsgate were jointly bidding for the rights to the Terminator franchise. They lost out to Pacificor, the hedge fund that had loaned money to Halcyon to buy the Terminator rights in the first place, before calling in the debt which caused the rights to go up for sale.

If you think about that for a second, it looks kinda fishy. Sony and Lionsgate think so. Lawyers for Sony say that their bid was the best one, but that Halcyon and Pacificor had struck a deal last Friday, essentially rigging the sale in favor of the hedge fund. But now there’s a new wrinkle. After some negotiation, Sony and Lionsgate have been given an option to negotiate to produce and distribute the next Terminator film.
An update to an LA Times article on the ongoing process provides the key info.The paper says,

Despite the rancor in court, Sony and Lions Gate have been given an exclusive window by Pacificor to negotiate to produce and distribute the next “Terminator” movie, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Which means, basically, that Pacificor has really done a nice job here. They own the rights and pull the strings, and have left the hard work — actually making and releasing another movie — to other companies. Good work, hedge fund! Will Pacificor play ball with Sony and Lionsgate? You’d expect so. While the auction got heavy at the last minute, there weren’t too many rights bidders who were really competitive. These companies obviously wanted to do something with the property, so why would Pacificor go to great lengths to find someone else to produce and distribute?

And what about McG, who has said more than once that he wants to make two more Terminator films? His representative argued in court yesterday that McG had a right of first refusal deal with Halcyon to direct any future sequels, and that Pacificor and any producing partners need to honor it. The judge disagreed, and said that if McG isn’t given the chance to direct the next film, he could file a claim against Halcyon in bankruptcy court.

What are the chances of McG actually suing, should a sequel come to pass without him, and of that claim generating anything tangible? More than likely, you’d expect Sony and LionsGate to throw him an executive producer credit on a future film and leave it at that.

The Co-Screenwriter of Terminator 1 and 2 Has Written Treatments For Terminator 5 and 6

Now that Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor has gained the rights to the Terminator Franchise, everyone is wondering what the future of the franchise might hold. William Wisher, the uncredited co-writer of Terminator and credited co-writer of Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (shared with James Cameron) has written a detailed 24-page treatment for Terminator 5, and a 4-page concept outline for Terminator 6. Mike Fleming, a self-confessed Terminator fanboy, has read both treatments and calls it a “a satisfying conclusion” to the six-film storyline.

Apparently the scripts follow the storylines set-up in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Salvation but turns the focus back to the core characters (Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese, and the T-800) and time travel storyline of the first two installments. Here is an excerpt from Deadline:

“Wisher’s 2-picture construct takes place in a post-apocalyptic battleground, and factors in an element of time travel that allows for Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese to interact beyond their single fateful meeting when he traveled back in time to protect her in the original film. Wisher has created a role for Arnold Schwarzenegger that is as surprising as his shift from villain in the first film, to John Connor’s bodyguard in the second. Schwarzenegger wouldn’t be needed until the final film. … There are several new villains, and plenty of firepower. For instance, a swarm of “Night Crawlers,” 4 1/2-foot tall border sentries that are set like mines to spring up out of the ground and ambush rebel fighters with 10 MM pistols built into their wrists, and fingers and feet that are razor sharp. Also fresh off the Skynet assembly line are new shape-shifting cyborgs that can morph together in Transformers-like mode, and are more lethal than anything we’ve seen in previous Terminator installments.”

Sounds pretty cool eh? Sony and Lionsgate are both interested in producing the next film. And while everything appears to be done on spec thus far,  it appears that Wisher has painted himself in the position of having a viable and interesting pitch which could quickly be crafted into the next film.  James Cameron has seemed uninterested in the last couple films, but it would be interesting if Sony or Lionsgate could convince the filmmaker to come on board to produce. Cameron might be enticed with the possibility of concluding the series he created, especially considering that they will probably be filmed in 3D.