UPDATES 'TERMINATOR' RIGHTS SELL FOR $29.5 MIL
A bankruptcy judge in U.S. District Court this morning approved the deal that gives the rights to the Terminator franchise to Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor for $29.5 million. Also OKed was a provision to pay another $5 million for each produced picture (up to 3) to the unsecured creditors, including holding company Halcyon which had to sell the rights when Pacificor pushed it into bankruptcy.
Now the focus is on who'll actually get to make the Terminator features. We've learned that Pacificor has granted underbidders Sony and Lionsgate (who'll remain partners in any transaction) an exclusive window to negotiate that. But our sources say no talks have begun as yet. It remains to be seen whether another studio will materialize to brgain, but none besides Sony and Lionsgate posted the $16 million minimum bid to get into the lightning round.
Today's courtroom was filled with lawyers, including those from Sony Pictures and Lionsgate, which made the runner-up bid of $28.5 million. Also there were lawyers for anybody who had a piece of the franchise, including MGM, which sold off its contractual right of first negotiation to the bankruptcy court for just $150,000.
Will Smith's and James Lassiter’s Overbrook Entertainment, and Jada Pinkett-Smith’s 100 Percent Womon Film Investments filed a complaint in California Superior Court this week. I'm told the filing is meant to head off a threatened lawsuit by an investor in Human Contract, a film Pinkett-Smith wrote and directed which went straight to video and apparently lost money. Lawyers filed the complaint for declaratory relief against David Grasso, described in the filing as a Philadelphia real estate mogul who invested in Pinkett-Smith’s film through his Tycoon Entertainment banner. I'm told the complaint was a proactive legal move by Pinkett-Smith and Overbrook after Grasso sent a letter threatening to sue for fraud unless he got his money back. Overbrook is involved because the company manages Pinkett-Smith. Read More »
Ugh, be prepared to pay higher entertainment ticket prices:
LOS ANGELES and WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Jan 25, 2010 -- Live Nation, Inc. and Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. today announced that they have reached agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and with the Canadian Commissioner of Competition, clearing the way for the merger of the companies. Upon closing, the company will be renamed Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. to reflect the combination of Live Nation's concert promotions expertise with Ticketmaster's world-class ticketing solutions and artist relationships.
Read More »
It was just announced that 17 major television networks and studios and 7 talent agencies today settled 19 of the 23 class action lawsuits filed in 2002 alleging intentional and unintentional age discrimination in the selection and representation of older television writers. The amount of the settlement is $70 million -- the largest-ever settlement in the history of age discrimination litigation. (Today’s settlement, along with the 2 cases that were settled earlier this year for $4.5 millioncluding interest.) All but one of the cases now ends for the Television Writers Age Discrimination Litigation, which named 51 defendants, including the major TV networks, production companies and eleven talent agencies. The lone holdout is the litigation still against Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
The announcement is being made jointly by the defendants and Paul Sprenger of Washington DC's Sprenger + Lang, who was lead counsel for the 165 named plaintiffs and the settlement classes. Here's more:
The settlement is subject to final approval by the California Superior Court in and for the County of Los Angeles.
The defendants strongly deny the plaintiffs’ allegations and state that their hiring and/or representation practices fully comply with the law and reflect their commitment to equal employment opportunity. They also note that they all have long-standing anti-discrimination policies and regularly employ or represent substantial numbers of writers over the age of forty.
The parties have been litigating these claims for almost ten years, including several appeals to the California Court of
... Read More »
UPDATE: Here's the indictment...
Remember when Fox's Wolverine was leaked onto the Internet and there were all those wild rumors that this was an inside job? (One even blamed Rupert Murdoch!) Now the FBI has arrested a New York man indicted for illegally distributing pirated copies of the movie. The FBI said in a statement today that 47-year-old Gilberto Sanchez was arrested at his Bronx home early this morning after he was indicted December 10th by a Los Angeles federal grand jury for violation of federal copyright law. He's expected to be arraigned today. The indictment, unsealed after Wednesday's arrest, accuses Sanchez of uploading the copyrighted X-Men Origins: Wolverine to an Internet site last spring. He faces a possible three years in prison and $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or gross loss attributable to the offense. Here is Fox's statement: "We are supportive of the FBI's actions and we will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement to identify and prosecute any individuals who steal our movies."
Hollywood sources tell me that the drunk driver who in 2007 instantly killed Rudin VP Sam Cassell and his girlfriend Red Wagon VP Rhiannon Meier was recently sentenced to 30 years to life for their deaths. Both victims were only 28 years old.
Fox filed documents today in the ongoing litigation between Redbox and various Hollywood studios. These papers are the studio's opening brief in support of its motion to dismiss RedBox's claim, and outline for the first time to the court Fox’s position on the Redbox dispute:
-- Fox has not refused to provide DVDs to Redbox. Redbox’s own complaint reveals that Fox tried to negotiate a contract to provide DVDs directly to Redbox. But after months of negotiations, the parties could not agree on price and other terms, even though Fox had offered Redbox terms similar to those accepted by other customers.
-- After Redbox refused to accept those terms, Fox had the right to stop selling DVDs to Redbox altogether. It did not. Instead, Fox informed its distributors that they could continue selling Fox DVDs to Redbox 30 days after Fox initially released the DVD, but not before.
-- The court papers make clear that Redbox has no viable legal case. Antitrust law does not require a seller to provide its product through the distribution channel that the buyer demands, on the date that the buyer demands, or at the price that the buyer demands. To the contrary, sellers have considerable freedom under the law to sell (or not sell) to whomever they want, how they want, and when they want. To this end, a seller’s restriction on its distributor does not violate antitrust laws ... Read More »
Warner Bros announced this today since it inherited the good and the bad of Bob Shaye's mess of lawsuits when it took over New Line from him in March 2008. Bonnie Eskenazi of Greenberg Glusker had been handling the court case on behalf of the Tolkien Trust expected to receive hundreds of millions of dollars from claims the company failed to pay 7.5% of gross receipts for the movies based on Tolkien's trilogy of Lord Of The Rings books. The Tolkien Trust and original Lord of the Rings publisher HarperCollins (owned by News Corp which runs rival Fox Studios) filed the lawsuit against New Line back in February 2008 in Los Angeles Superior Court. Estimates are the films have reaped nearly $6 billion combined. New Line already is paying a legal settlement to Lord Of The Rings trilogy director and profit participant Peter Jackson who was blocked by Shaye from auditing the studio until Warner Bros absorbed New Line. Here's today's news release:
(September 8, 2009 – Burbank, CA) -- The Tolkien Trust (a UK registered charity), New Line Cinema, and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. have resolved the lawsuit relating to the “Lord of the Rings” films.
The claim was filed in February of last year. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. and the trustees of the JRR Tolkien Estate were co-plaintiffs in the claim, which concerned plaintiffs’ participation interest in the “Lord of the Rings” films released between 2001 and 2003. The precise terms of the
... Read More »
TiVo just issued this statement regarding the contempt sanctions ordered by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, in the lawsuit against EchoStar and Dish: "We are pleased by the Court's ruling to impose contempt sanctions of approximately $200 million against EchoStar for its continued violation of a Court-ordered permanent injunction, and to award TiVo its attorney fees and costs incurred during the contempt proceedings. This brings total damages and sanctions in this case to approximately $400 million through July 1, 2009, plus attorney fees, and is exclusive of potential further damages and sanctions. Additionally, we are pleased that the Court 'will seriously entertain the award of enhanced sanctions' if 'EchoStar is unsuccessful on appeal and nevertheless continues to disregard this Court's orders.' We are confident that this ruling brings us closer to final resolution."
TiVo, a pioneer of digital-video recording services, had sought $974.5 million from Dish for contempt of court in their 5 1/2-year patent battle. Dish, the second-biggest U.S. satellite-television provider, and EchoStar told a federal judge in July that the company has acted in good faith and sanctions aren’t appropriate. But U.S. District Judge David Folsom in Texarkana, Texas, found a $2.25 royalty per DVR subscriber was appropriate. Dish and Echostar were ordered on June 2 by Folsom to stop using a digital-video recorder that infringed the TiVo patent. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had put Folsom’s order on hold until an appeal ... Read More »
LOS ANGELES – August 17, 2009 – T Asset Acquisition, LLC, and related entities that own the rights to the Terminator movie franchise announced today that they have commenced reorganization proceedings under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in federal Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. The companies will seek to restructure their financial obligations and resolve related litigation and other matters and emerge from Chapter 11 later this year or early in 2010. Peitzman, Weg & Kempinsky, LLP, is reorganization counsel and Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro, LLP, is corporate and litigation counsel to the companies.
'Terminator' Producers Accuse Hedge Fund Of Extortion, Bribery, Fraud In Lawsuit
But the Supreme Court sidestepped ruling on whether the FCC policy is unconstitutional. So the result is that the networks are still going to have to control even the fleeting curse word on live television. (Isn't that why there's a 3-second delay available?) According to news reports, the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling effectively throws out the June 2007 decision by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. That court sided with Fox Broadcasting that the FCC's indecency policy was "arbitrary and capricious" when the network received fines for Nicole Richie and Cher swearing during the 2002 and 2003 live telecasts of the Billboard Music Awards. Now Fox wants a ruling on the FCC policy's constitutionality.
My video game guru Keith Boesky, who sells the most intellectual property and developers into the game business, has some tech for thought:
Games cost a lot, and they take a really long time now. Sure, assets are expensive. But one of the biggest pricetags today is technology, and everyone is building it.
Recently, a bunch of game industry luminaries kicked the idea of a one console future. They said it was too hard to manufacture for of a lot of different platforms. They're right, it is hard, but their conclusion is stupid. Trip Hawkins knew this when he allowed Joe Montana Football to build on Madden tech. He needed a rival in the market. The competition among the consoles not only gives us hardware advances on a regular basis, but it amortizes the expense of market growth across multiple companies. Growth: fueled by in-store promotion, price cuts to consumers, marketing dollars to publishers, and other promotions. Do you see a lot of innovation coming out of your phone company? Why would we want to relegate the console to the status of appliance?
Let’s take a step back and look at the enabling technology, not the hardware. Let the consoles compete at the hardware level, like televisions do. But let’s get enough people behind the technology to force them to modify their consoles to meet our needs.
Every publisher incurs redundant costs. When I try to explain the game development process to every Hollywood executive
... Read More »
UPDATE: Sentencing will take place November 17th.
Maybe Terry Christensen should have hired a real criminal attorney and not his entertainment law partner Patty Glaser who clearly got out of testifying against him by becoming his counsel. Being found guilty on one count of wiretapping and one count of criminal conspiracy means that Christensen could be jailed for as long as 10 years. This verdict is sure to shake up the entertainment legal landscape because Christensen was the managing partner at the powerhouse law firm of Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro.
Of course there'll be an appeal, especially after the federal judge took the rare step yesterday of dismissing a juror who apparently lied about making biased statements. (Like how the defendants should be allowed to wiretap because the U.S. government does, and "this case is a joke case" because "no one died.") The jury foreman had asked that juror No. 7 be replaced because his mind was made up when deliberations began and he refused to take part in them. The juror himself claimed the others were angry with him because he disagreed with the majority.
Christensen and the Hollywood private eye he hired, Anthony Pellicano, were convicted of hatching a plot to intercept the telephone calls of Lisa Bonder, the ex-wife of billionaire Christensen client Kerk Kerkorian when both ... Read More »
Both ex-Hollywood P.I. Anthony Pellicano and Terry Christensen, the managing partner of the showbiz law firm Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, are charged with wiretapping and conspiracy. Lawyers rested their cases on Friday.
My LA Weekly colleague Steven Mikulan emailed me this about Kirk Kerkorian's 30-minute testimony today before a packed federal courtroom. Summary: Kerkorian testified that he had no knowledge of any wiretapping.
"The Las Vegas land baron and former MGM/UA owner (twice) put in a long-anticipated appearance this morning at the trial of former private investigator Anthony Pellicano and Kerkorian's Century City entertainment attorney, Terry Christensen. The 91-year-old Kerkorian entered the courtroom in Los Angeles' Roybal Federal Building dressed in a blue blazer, gray slacks and black loafers, and seemed to be holding his left hand, which he placed in a pocket during testimony. During his 26 minutes on the witness stand, the unsmiling billionaire admitted he was hard of hearing and not entirely sure of specific dates; at one point he checked himself while referring to the FBI as "the RAF." (Kerkorian had flown for the Royal Air Force as a contractor during WWII.)
"Those in court expecting TV melodrama were predictably disappointed. Kerkorian had been called as a defense witness by Christensen's attorneys to declare he had no knowledge of a plan to wiretap his former wife, and, seemingly, to confirm the implied irresponsibility of real estate heir and sometime-Hollywood player Steve Bing. In 2002, DNA obtained by Kerkorian's security operatives, who
... Read More »
The billionaire two-time owner of MGM/UA takes the witness stand at 11 AM.
News reports say the bigtime billionaire and two-time owner of MGM/UA will take the witness stand. So announced the defense team for bigtime entertainment attorney Terry Christensen today. Kirk Kerkorian was Christensen's longtime client whose 2002 child custody and support case got the lawyer in all this legal hot water in the first place. Christensen, who's on trial with convicted Hollywood P.I. Anthony Pellicano, is the managing partner of Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, where his defense attorney Patty Glaser is also a partner. The trial is in its 3rd week.
Robert Iafolla of the Los Angeles legal newspaper Daily Journal published this info from the courtroom: after the jury left the courtroom at the close of proceedings today, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel A. Saunders told U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer that he has a $25,000 retainer check from Christensen's firm to the Pellicano Investigative Agency dated Aug. 15, 2003. Uh-oh. Pellicano was in custody awaiting trial on federal weapons charges at the time and had officially dissolved his agency. Saunders suggested it meant either that Christensen's firm had no problem doing biz with a federally indicted private eye, or that the firm paid Pellicano for other services -- like refusing to cooperate with the wiretapping investigation.
Saunders then asked Fischer for permission to tell the jury that Pellicano was awaiting trial at the time of the payment. ... Read More »
At 8:30 a.m. in the Roybal federal Building tomorrow, jury selection begins for Hollywood superlawyer Terry Christensen and ex-private investigator Anthony Pellicano. Prosecutors allege Christensen paid Pellicano $100,000 to illegally wiretap the ex-wife of long-time client Kirk Kerkorian during a 2002 child support dispute to gain a tactical advantage in the litigation. There have been conversations between Pellicano and Christensen that have come to light about the alleged spying in the case involving billionaire investor Kerkorian, who owned MGM/United Artists. Don't expect to hear talk about the trial: Hollywood has Pelicano fatigue.
There was a failed attempt to remove Christensen's law partner Patty Glaser, well known in showbiz circles, as his defense attorney on grounds she had a conflict that should disqualify her. Prosecutors even subpoenaed Glaser as a potential witness. And Glaser doesn't even practice criminal law. But this week U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer let it go. According to news reports, the judge said she'd received a declaration from Christensen in which he waived any conflicts from Glaser's participation in litigation involving the charges against him. The judge also took an oral waiver from Christensen, after a federal prosecutor said he wanted a guarantee that Christensen would not use Glaser's representation as grounds for an appeal or any other legal challenge.
Christensen is the managing partner of Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro and faces one count of conspiracy and one count of wiretapping. Once again, Pellicano will act as his own lawyer even though at the last ... Read More »
Carl Icahn Now Wants ALL Of Lionsgate 
FINAL MGM BIDS DUE FRIDAY: So Who's In And … 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
BBC Drama Unfreezes Development Money; … 
Lionsgate Board Rejects Icahn's $6/Share 
Is Betting On Box Office Good For Films? 
Marvel Still Looking For Captain America 
'Sopranos' Creator To Film Rock Drama 
LIVE-SNARKING THE 82ND OSCARS... 
'ALICE' IS A MONSTER! $116.3M Blows Past … 
Oscar Not-So-Thriller: Diller Mogul Picnic 
'Precious' Sweeps 25th Indie Spirit Awards 
Howard Stern Won't Be Next 'Idol' Judge 
Justin Theroux Readying 'Zoolander 2' For … 
Loading ...
