With the once mighty studio MGM going into financial meltdown we take a look at the studio’s films that may never see the light of day.
By Leo Stiles
Many a Bond film signed off with the tagline “James Bond will returnâ€, but with producing studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer now in financial freefall, it’s looking like 007 won’t be returning for a very long time.
MGM was once the biggest producer of movies on the planet and during the 30s and 40s ruled Hollywood, producing hits like Gone with the Wind, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Ben Hur and The Wizard of Oz.
Cut to the present day and things are looking pretty grim for the studio with spiralling debts now reaching over $4 billion. Over the last 20 years, the studio that was once so great has been sold and re-sold multiple times with each sale leaving the studio deeper in the red. By 2007, with debts about to cross the $3 billion mark, it was clear that something had to give.
That something was its ability to not only produce a film, but also to release and market one, something that has left a huge number of  films in limbo as the studio shuffles towards bankruptcy. Some of these films are small-sized movies that will eventually limp their way onto DVD, but some of them are blockbusters that are now facing the prospect of massively delayed release and, in some cases, they may not be made at all.
Among these are the following five:
Bond 23
The James Bond franchise has been the jewel in MGM’s crown ever since it was first acquired in the early 80s. The espionage series has always been a money spinner, with the last entry in the series, Quantum of Solace, making $600 million in cinemas alone.
The next instalment should have seen Daniel Craig return as Bond in a film directed by Sam Mendes, but a series of delays stalled production and ended with the announcement earlier in the summer that the film was cancelled and that no further plans on the future of the series would be made for the foreseeable future.
This is a huge disappointment for fans because Craig was fitting into the role nicely and the script for the new film was reportedly a real high point for the franchise. It’s unlikely that this means the end for Bond but it might mean that this will be the end for Daniel Craig as 007, leaving the series back at square one yet again.
The Hobbit
Serving as a prequel to the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit should have been shooting by now after more than two years of pre-production that has cost Peter Jackson’s film company Wingnut Films a small fortune.
Scripts had been completed, sets and creatures had been designed and everything was ready to go when MGM began to serious implode earlier this year and delayed giving the film the green light.
Last month, original director Guillermo Del Toro left the film when it became clear that a start date wasn’t materialising and he said that he could no longer hold off on commitments to other projects. This came as a severe blow to fans who had welcomed the talented director as one of the few people good enough to step into Peter Jackson’s shoes when he decided not to direct the film himself.
It’s not all bad news as Peter Jackson is in negotiations with production partner Warner Brothers to take up the directorial reigns of the project and while reports indicate that everyone is happy with this, any delays in a financial resolution will likely be the end of the film once and for all.
Cabin in the Woods
This film is scripted and produced by Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and is a pared down horror film about two white collar workers who lure some hormonal teenagers to an isolated cabin in the woods in the hope that their behaviour will give them an excuse to punish them.
The crazy thing about this film is that it’s completely finished and that test screenings have yielded very positive responses. The reason it hasn’t seen the light of day is because MGM is in such a tight spot that they simply can’t afford to release and market a film. This means that Cabin in the Woods likely won’t see a release until it’s either sold off to another studio or MGM is acquired by Time Warner.
Red Dawn
Much like Cabin in the Woods, this remake of the commie-bashing cheesfest is already complete with the invading Russians of the original now replaces with new red menace: the Chinese. The original starred Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen, and rode the teen movie wave of the early 80s with a group of American kids holding the might of the Soviet army at bay.
The remake has already sat on the shelf for months and will not see a release until the fate of MGM is decided. The star of the film is Chris Hemsworth who some of you might remember from the Star Trek reboot from last year (in which he played Kirk’s dad). His star is very much on the up and he will next be seen as the titular Thor in Marvel’s blockbuster in the making, which will be released next summer.
His presence should see that Red Dawn gets a theatrical airing rather than the insult of a quick death on DVD.
Robocop
As remakes go, this one had the potential to be great. The original Robocop was a sharp and violent satire from Paul Verhoeven who blended sci-fi with vicious barbs skewering the excess of the 80s. A string of progressively dire sequels diluted the franchise to the point where it became something of a joke.
When MGM announced that they had given the job of reimagining Robocop to Darren Aronofsky, our expectations of the project soared. Aranofsky is the brains behind atmospheric sci-fi tale Pi and The Wrestler, which shot Mickey Rourke back to fame last year.
Development of the project repeatedly stalled over the last year and with Aronofsky moving on to other projects, it looks like another decent film has succumbed to MGM’s death throes.
Hopefully these five will eventually see the light of day. We can be pretty sure, though, that they won’t be the only potential blockbusters to come to light as problem children of MGM. Already more are starting to surface, the latest casualty looks to be a supposed team up between Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington and acclaimed director David Cronenburg for a film based on the Robert Ludlum novel The Manatees Circle about a CIA Agent who has to team up with his KGB counterpart in order to stop an international group of hitmen.
While nothing was ever officially announced, the people involved makes for a mouth watering prospect particularly the involvement of Croneburg who made the brilliant Eastern Promises and a History of Violence.
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