Judge Awards Halcyon Relief to Make ‘Terminator 5′
During a Los Angeles bankruptcy hearing Judge Ernest Robles has helped Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, the producers behind Terminator Salvation, to keep their struggling Halcyon Company operating.
The ruling gives Halcyon some much needed breathing space to continue development of Terminator 5.
Here’s the story in a nutshell.
In 2007 California based hedge fund Pacificor lent Halcyon $30M so that they could acquire the rights to the Terminator franchise. Halcyon state the lender then deliberately pushed it into default by placing unnecessary time pressures on them during the production of Terminator Salvation. They claim an improper lien was placed by Pacificor over certain assets in such a way as to make it impossible for them to repay their debts and, therefore, was a clandestine attempt by Pacificor to steal the rights to the Terminator franchise.
Pacificor CEO Andrew Mitchell addressed the accusations by claiming that he is only trying to protect his investment and maximize profits as a “responsible chief executive.”
At the beginning of September, with their assets frozen, Halcyon were on the verge of shutting down forever. Apparently they only had $5,500 left in cash whilst the original $30M loan has now spiraled into a $70M outstanding debt.
Fortunately for Halcyon the Judge gave them access to some $2.1M in tax rebates and ruled that the company can use cash collateral to finance continued operations. The upshot of this ruling is that although Halcyon aren’t out of the woods yet, they can at least continue to make Terminator 5.
Interestingly, the court also heard that Sony offered to buy out the debt owed to Pacificor, indicating that Sony are also keen to nab the rights to Terminator.
But Anderson and Kubicek don’t want to sell those rights if they can help it.
“Victor and I are both huge Terminator fans, and we do see [Terminator Salvation] as a foundation for where we take the franchise in the future,” Anderson said.
So does the breather mean Terminator 5 will actually get made and Halcyon will bounce back?
The company’s bankruptcy attorney, Scott Gautier, seems to think so, stating that their financial issues could be wrapped up within four to five months.
One thing seems for sure. Halcyon now have to move forward on Terminator 5 as quickly as they can.
Finally, you can help these two self-confessed Terminator fans to continue bringing Terminator films to the big screen by buying the DVD when it’s released in December.
Or, before then, why not buy the Terminator Salvation Soundtrack by Danny Elfman.
Source: Variety
September 11th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Terminator Salvation was spotty at best… but good enough to warrant buying the DVD. Besides, these Pacificor guys sound like snakes. F*$k them in their @$$holes.
-V
September 11th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
salvation was good action film, better than transformers 2 and some other films i have seen this year although district 9 was better
i think if they advance t5 to the war everyone wants lots of t-800s against humans it could be fairly solid.
September 11th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
T5 is apparently back at this time in England with Christian Bales Connor being pursued by multiple advanced Terminator’s. It’s a chase one. It’s also a time travel one and I’m guessing it leads to the final in the trilogy which would be the full on war one you’re talking about RAY.
I’m all for buying the DVD if only to help these guys make a T5 and if not for that, to shaft those Pacificor snakes. I enjoyed Salvation and believe they’ll do better with T5 given the chance. I’m also down with the idea of getting the Elfman soundtrack too, but only because I already have it and its friggin awesome music. I’d also hate to see the Terminator franchise fall into the hands of money grabbers instead of the fans that currently have it.
Like Salvation or not, the producers are fans. Better that than the “chief exec trying to make money for his shareholders.”
October 20th, 2009 at 5:11 am
Forget it, Terminator Salvation was not that good (if judging by plot alone, it was actually pretty awful) and McG’s vision for where he wants to go with part 5 will only make it much worse. Halcyon and McG have not been good for the franchise. Really, it might be better for all if Sony gets it, and this is coming from a die-hard Terminator fan who loved the first three movies.
June 12th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
I think it should be a good idea to make a 5th terminator and i thought terminator salvation was of the hook and it was way better than that stupid ass avatar movie so please make a new terminator go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!