'Terminator' Franchise Up For Bid

According to a new report by the Financial Times, the blockbuster 'Terminator' name brand and franchise are on the auction block. The deal won't include productions already completed, but will apply to future film and TV spinoffs and merchandising rights.

According to a new report by the Financial Times, the rights to the blockbuster franchise Terminator film and TV series are on the auction block. The rights to the storied franchise are being sold by Halcyon, the production company that produced the most recent franchise film entry, Terminator Salvation, which grossed $380M worldwide during its 2008 run. All major film studios have expressed great interest in acquiring the rights, with Sony Pictures a leading contender. Several other buyers have also expressed interest, including Platinum Equity, the firm that owns the auto parts manufacturer Delphi. Hollywood insiders are watching the bidding closely, as many predict it will be a barometer of the status of intellectual properties as Hollywood suffers from plummeting DVD sales and box office difficulties. To date, the IP market has held up very well. The global rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise were just sold for $60M to Nickelodeon last week, and ABC/Disney recently paid $4B for Marvel Entertainment, which includes all intellectual property rights to such blockbuster franchises as Spiderman, X-Men and The Fantastic Four. The Terminator franchise auction is considered an anomaly in the film industry, as such rights are normally controlled by major studios like Sony and not individual production companies like Halcyon, which is currently undergoing Chapter 11 proceedings. It is expected that the bidding will far surpass that of the $60M TMNT selling price to Nickelodeon. The Terminator franchise has been hugely successful over the years. The original Terminator film released in 1984, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by James Cameron, made $80M worldwide on a $6M budget. The sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, released in 1991, was the blockbuster of that year with a $519M worldwide box office take. 2003's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the first which Cameron did not direct, grossed $433M worldwide. The Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series, produced by FOX, was the highest-rated scripted series to debut on national television for the 2007-2008 season. Ironically, T2 producer Mario Kassar sold the original rights to the Terminator franchise to Halcyon for $25M after Carolco went through Chapter 11. I originally reported on both bankruptcies here at Digital Journal on August 20th of this year, and of the strange situations of both Carolco and Halcyon declaring bankruptcies right after both studios made nearly a billion dollars combined in worldwide box office on Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator Salvation.