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Author Topic: MGM now distributed by Sony Justin West Master Film Handler Posts: 271 From: Peoria, IL, USA Registered: Jul 2001 posted 05-27-2005 11:31 PM                     So, just got notified that MGM releases will now be dist by Sony. Does anyone have the poop behind MGM's demise/merger/sale?  |  IP: Logged Jason Whitlock Film Handler Posts: 28 From: Raleigh, NC, USA Registered: Mar 2005 posted 05-28-2005 12:29 AM                     poor poor TCD.. yet another loss.. those orange cans are starting to disappear now-a-days.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-28-2005 02:24 AM                        Yeah, just when they were beginning to get their act together. Oh well, we'll all be out of business in a couple of months anyway.  |  IP: Logged Lindsay Morris Expert Film Handler Posts: 233 From: Darlington, WA, Australia Registered: Sep 2002 posted 05-28-2005 02:40 AM                     I would have thought that the buy out of MGM by Sony would have been common knowledge amongst the US techers!. Sony outbid Warners I believe to the tune of $8 B US for MGM's business in the states and from what I understand not much will change. You will still see the MGM lion logo etc just that Sony Pictures will distribute the stuff with MGM as a more or less arms length company.. at least for the time being. There will be a bit of a change in Australia as MGM was/still is distributed by Fox but that will change soon and MGM stuff will start popping up thru the Columbia exchange which is Sony anyway. It was quite a tussle for Sony to get control with a vigorous bidding war between Sony and Warners over many months. This got quite a few writeups in the OZ film industry publications... maybe it was seen as just "another" takeover in the US and given no real publicity as a result. Lindsay  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 05-28-2005 12:53 PM                     It was years ago when Sony bought the MGM studios and removed the MGM name. I, for one, am not all that impressed that it's now called "Sony Pictures Studios" but I imagine it's done to impress their investors. So this apparently is a logical next step. I wonder how long it will be before Paramount, Columbia, Universal and Warner Brothers are gobbled up by some Japanese conglomerate.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-28-2005 01:36 PM                     Sony bought up what was left of MGM studios' lot. A great deal of the original MGM campus was sold off by Kirk Kerkorian decades ago for things like condominum developments. MGM has drifted from one owner to the next over the last 30 years, with Kerkorian winding up with it here and there. I think he made a few billion more for himself with this Sony deal. To me, MGM and United Artists are little more than shells of once great studios. The brand names themselves don't really command much interest anymore. The main area that is seeing immediate effect over the Sony buyout is in the video area. Many DVD titles under development have been pushed back or shelved indefinitely. The ownership raises all sorts of legal issues and many contracts and rights deals have to be renegotiated. Sergio Leone fans were waiting in interest for a new 2 disc "Fist Full of Dollars" special edition. The project was nearing completion. But now there's no telling when that title will see release.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 05-29-2005 01:52 AM                       Actually, Sony no longer owns the Culver Studios. In 2004, it was sold to PCCP Studio City Los Angeles.  |  IP: Logged Dan Lyons Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 698 From: Seal Beach, CA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 05-29-2005 01:43 PM                     Will this have any positive/negative effect on old MGM repertory titles and their availability?  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-30-2005 12:35 AM                        quote: Dan Lyons Will this have any positive/negative effect on old MGM repertory titles and their availability? I believe all the MGM rep product is still owned & moved through Warner/Turner. As the corpse of MGM got kicked around, the library of about 1985-earlier went to Turner, & I think the post-1985-ish titles still go with the corporate entity (now owned by Sony).  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 05-30-2005 10:04 AM                     Steve Kraus sent me this link, which better explains what Sony will have in available film titles from the MGM deal. http://www.sonypicturesrepertory.com/hot.html  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-30-2005 01:13 PM                     Wow. The voice of Michael Schlesinger is pretty distinctive there --jhawk  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-30-2005 11:55 PM                        Who's got My Fair Lady now? Is there still a 70mm print around?  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 06-01-2005 08:59 AM                     quote: Robert E. Allen I wonder how long it will be before Paramount, Columbia, Universal and Warner Brothers are gobbled up by some Japanese conglomerate. Well Columbia Pictures has been a part of Sony for a long while and Universal Pictures was also a part of a Japanese congloerate too. quote: Bobby Henderson Sergio Leone fans were waiting in interest for a new 2 disc "Fist Full of Dollars" special edition. The project was nearing completion. But now there's no telling when that title will see release. That special edition project "A Fistful of Dollars" and "For a Few Dollars More" and "A Fistful of Dynamite" has been completed and is currently available in region 2. All three titles are 2 disc special editions with new 16x9 transfers and 5.1 digital soundtracks plus a DTS track. The special features on all three discs are very nice. Depending on how Sony handles their release, MGM had them coming out next year. They look nice  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 06-05-2005 03:17 PM                        quote: John Hawkinson Wow. The voice of Michael Schlesinger is pretty distinctive there And isn't that one grand stroke of luck for us arthouse folk! The more titles that come under his auspises, the better. There is no one better to deal with or who is as passionate about film as Michael. What-oh-what will we do when he retires?! Oh...right; I won't have to worry cause I will be retired too....it will be the next guy's problem (which he will probably try to fix by buying a video projector and a bunch of DVDs).  |  IP: Logged Per Hauberg Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 883 From: Malling, Denmark Registered: Jul 2000 posted 06-08-2005 04:42 PM                        quote: William Hooper Who's got My Fair Lady now? Is there still a 70mm print around? Last time, I heard from that beauty, she was distributed by Fox, but danish representitive rejected it with poor estimate for possible reissue. I had the pleasure of distributing it, last time around over here - that is late seventies, still using the original 1964 70mm print. A good friend watched it at the mid-nineties reissue in New York and was not impressed by neither picture nor sound - Anybody here been close to it at that time ? The dvd is great, but alas this is all, I have seen of Eliza and the good professor for the last 25 years. -Sad, but I'm afraid the good danish Fox-boss did right in rejecting. -It's over  |  IP: Logged

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