According to The LA Times the rights to The Terminator franchise which are currently owned by the now bankrupt Halcyon Holding Group controlled by Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek are up for sale again. Since Terminator is Halycon’s biggest asset it is clear this is being done to cover their debt now that they are in chapter 11. The rights are on sale for $60 million which is over twice the amount that Anderson and Kubicek payed for the original rights in 2007. This will create a bidding war among studios since The Terminator is still a hot item. It is unclear at this point however how this will effect the timing of another sequel.
I’m pretty happy about this news. As /Film pointed out in their write up, other than Star Wars, The Terminator franchise is the only one not owned by a major studio. I actually hope that changes once the bidding war is over (which I promise there will be). Terminator is a franchise that needs the backing of a major studio to work. Considering how heavy production costs are to make each film (the budget for Terminator Salvation was close to if not at $200 million). If a studio like Paramount, Warner Brothers, or Twentieth Century Fox (who are also producing James Cameron’s newest creation AVATAR) bought the rights you can bet your ass that the resources would be available.
Do you think The Terminator franchise should fall into studio hands?