According to Deadline Hollywood, the Terminator franchise has a new owner. Halcyon Holding Corp. accepted a $29.5 million bid from a Santa Barbara-based hedge fund called Pacificor.
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.
Pacificor is actually the debt holder that caused the bankruptcy issue for Halcyon in the first place, and led to the auction. Halcyon will receive $5 million for every Terminator movie made from now on, as well as retains the rich revenue streams from the movies Terminator 3 and 4. An arrangement also was made that the sale now wipes out the debt Halcyon owed to Pacificor and all the other creditors.
Lionsgate had planned “a complete re-boot, back to basics, with real emotional stories, and effects that will be secondary” vision of the Terminator franchise. Finally, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s president of worldwide affairs Peter Schlessel was reportedly furious about losing the auction, and stormed out after losing the rights war to Pacificor.
According to the L.A Times, Sony and Lionsgate are now jointly in talks with Pacificor to “take control of the property”. Pacificor has no experience making movies whatsoever, so they will need to work with studios if they are to put the rights into good use.
