After suffering more trauma than the average teen-ager, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer finally gets to prove that the lion's curse has been lifted next month, when it starts to release the first batch of movies that have been largely supervised by the studio's new management.
Leading the pack is "Clean Slate," a Dana Carvey comedy produced by Richard and Lili Zanuck. Then comes the real test as MGM rolls out two of the most high-profile movies of the summer--"Getting Even with Dad," a comedy starring mega-child celebrity Macaulay Culkin and Ted Danson, and "Blown Away," a thriller with Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones and Jeff Bridges.
Hollywood is closely watching all three projects for proof that there's more than high hopes behind the revival, which started in July when Frank Mancuso was named chairman and the company's disastrous finances were restructured. MGM already has flexed its muscle in the marketplace by becoming a serious buyer of material and by assembling a strong team of senior executives. But in some quarters there are lingering doubts about its staying power.
One concern is that Credit Lyonnais, which owns MGM, will bail out before the studio has fully recovered, and before the 1997 deadline for unloading it under U.S. banking laws. Credit Lyonnais helped add to those worries over the weekend when its new president, Jean Peyrelevade, told the Financial Times of London that the studio could be had now for $2.5 billion. Sources later said Peyrelevade was just trying to discourage bottom fishers by tossing out an obviously exorbitant figure.
Hollywood also worries that MGM is suffering a cash crunch, with many believing that the studio already has eaten through the $400 million that was supplied by Credit Lyonnais last July. The studio contributed to that perception, inadvertently it seems, when word got out earlier this year that it was trying to round up $300 million in additional financing.
In an interview on Monday, however, Mancuso said that everything is on track as far as he's concerned. Mancuso said the bank remains fully committed to reviving MGM, despite the political problems it is suffering over a series of bad loans.
"The policy is that maximum value can be obtained for the company when it is fully competitive in the marketplace," said Mancuso, who last week attended a quarterly Credit Lyonnais board of directors meeting in New York. "We have an exceptionally straightforward relationship with the bank. I've seen absolutely no change in that since I arrived."
