Best Laid Plans…….
As detailed within, the original plan by the lenders to MGM to hold an auction for the MGM assets, sell everything off, and then walk away has stumbled as the reality of the overall economic situation rudely intruded. The trend for DVD sales has been down due to the obvious economic downturn, and due to the equally obvious shift in consumer preferences to new means delivery/storage of their TV/Movie entertainment. Estimates of the value of the MGM library – especially when the complicated encumbrances are factored into future projections – have plummeted along with the hopes of the lenders to sell off at a good price and walk away clean.
The final bids were due last Monday, and basically fell short. That this would happen was clear to several participants of the bidding process earlier and the maneuvering by various players is well underway.
This process is not necessarily bad for those fans who would like to see the Dead Like Me franchise carry on in some reinvigorated form - either as a series of movies or a new series – because the key questions yet to be answered are who will be the final owner and will the new owner have the money and ideas for new projects.
However, anything new emerging out of the long passage of time since the shutdown is likely to be an entire rebooting of the franchise with a new cast – still perhaps set in DLM universe - somewhere. If we’re lucky some of the old cast will be brought in for a send off of the something new.