Terminator Rights Up for Grabs, Whedon Bids

Published by Jeff Leins on: November 3rd, 2009

The rights for the Terminator franchise are headed for an auction as the Halcyon Company who owns them files for Chapter 11.

I hinted this would happen last month, but now Halcyon is serious about unloading its largest asset by January 2010.  The company purchased the rights in 2007 for $25-30 million before churning out a sequel that made $380 million worldwide.  An exec with FTI Capital Advisers claims the property is worth $60-70 million now.  Maybe those suits didn’t see Terminator Salvation.

Sony is definitely interested, especially considering their two biggest franchises are Men in Black and Spider-Man, both of which are already headed for a third and fourth.  Summit Entertainment is also considering it, what with all the Twilight money they have to throw around these days.  Plus the rest of the major studios considering the potential.

The winner would get the whole Terminator bundle: future movies, the “Sarah Connor Chronicles” TV series (is that worth anything?), DVDs, and merchandising.  They’ll also get this suspicious looking metal hand…

At this point no one knows what this will mean for future installments because it will depend on which studio wins in the bidding war.  Halcyon had been planning a fifth and even sixth Terminator movie, going far enough to sign Christian Bale for an entire trilogy.  Director McG has discussed his premise for another installment that would bring the fight back to the present day before the robot rebellion.  He’d better hurry, that could be any day now.

Seeing an opportunity to grab a few headlines for himself, Joss Whedon wrote an open letter where he entices the Halcyon Company with a crisp $10,000 check.

If you’re not a Whedonite, here’s a bit of background.  He’s a self-proclaimed “very important Hollywood mogul” and “the mastermind behind Titan A.E., Parenthood (not the movie) (or the new series) (or the one where ‘hood’ was capitalized ’cause it was a pun), and myriad other legendary tales.” This includes the floundering TV series “Dollhouse.”

In the letter he lays out a few possible plans for the franchise (once succesfully purchased) including “Terminator of the Rings,” a throat lozenge for Christian Bale, and of course more porn.  Read his letter because I can’t do it justice.