Can Mary Parent make MGM roar again?

WHO says no one takes risks in Hollywood anymore?

Until late last week, Mary Parent had one of the great jobs in the movie business. After helping preside over a string of hits as a top executive at Universal Pictures, Parent left the studio two years ago to produce films with Scott Stuber, a longtime friend and fellow Universal executive. Their deal with Universal, which gave them 5% of their projects' first-dollar gross, was one of the richest producer deals in Hollywood.

In a move that sent ripples of surprise all over town, Parent turned in her producer stripes for another studio gig. The good news is that it's a big job, making her head of a motion picture group. But what has industry insiders scratching their heads is that she's headed to MGM, a studio that has been widely rumored to be on the verge of collapse after pursuing the failed strategy of relying on independent producers to supply it with hit movies.

MGM’s recent track record has been pretty abysmal. In 2007, when the studio released 22 films, only two -- "1408" and "Halloween" -- made more than $30 million. Both were made by the Weinstein Co., which has what might charitably be called a fractious relationship with the studio, having loudly complained about MGM's poor marketing and lack of clout with exhibitors.

It's a sign of how bad things are at MGM that when news surfaced last week about Parent's arrival, no one was asking why MGM Chairman Harry Sloan wanted Parent, but why Parent had taken the job. As one agent put it: "It's sort of like becoming captain of the Titanic after it's already hit the iceberg."

Parent's hiring came just days after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke agreed to pump up to $200 billion into the banking system in an attempt to ease the credit market crisis. In a way Sloan is doing the same thing -- he's using the arrival of Parent, an executive respected by both above-the-line talent and industry insiders, as a way to restore Hollywood's confidence in his troubled studio.

Schooled under two of the best modern-day studio executives, Michael DeLuca at New Line and Stacey Snider at Universal, Parent has a great eye for material and strong talent relationships. However, it had been slow going for her at Universal lately, with nearly all of the Stuber/Parent films -- “The Kingdom,” for example -- coming from Stuber.