The Terminator Movie

The rights to "Terminator" are up for sale yet again. Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, who acquired the science-fiction franchise in 2007 for $25 million and produced this year's sequel "Terminator Salvation," are looking to sell the rights as several companies owned by the two producers work their way through Chapter 11 reorganization. Anderson and Kubicek's Halcyon Holding Group has engaged financial advisory firm FTI Capital Advisors, pending approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, to "evaluate strategic alternatives," according to a statement.

Lions Gate Entertainment has taken a lead in the bidding for "Terminator," but competition for rights to the 26-year-old science fiction franchise is likely to heat up in the next month. In a federal Bankruptcy Court filing Wednesday, Halcyon Group, the independent production company owned by Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, asked a judge to approve naming Lions Gate as "stalking horse" bidder for the "Terminator" rights. The two producers put the film rights up for sale in September to raise cash as they work their way out of Chapter 11 reorganization.

The bang-up box-office business for "Terminator 2: Judgment Day"--a near-record $52.8 million in the first five days--is reverberating through the home-video market, creating an incredible demand for the original. Suddenly "The Terminator," released in 1984, is the hottest video title around.

The rights to "Terminator" are up for sale yet again. Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, who acquired the science-fiction franchise in 2007 for $25 million and produced this year's sequel "Terminator Salvation," are looking to sell the rights as several companies owned by the two producers work their way through Chapter 11 reorganization. Anderson and Kubicek's Halcyon Holding Group has engaged financial advisory firm FTI Capital Advisors, pending approval by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles, to "evaluate strategic alternatives," according to a statement.

'Terminator' Figures Sue Hemdale Film Corp.: Loan-out companies for the star, producer, writer and special effects coordinator on the film "The Terminator" sued Hemdale Film Corp. and Orion Pictures alleging they breached a contract for distribution of profits from the film.

A safe rule of thumb in any business dealing is never assume anything. Bucking that rule can prove embarrassing, if not frightfully expensive--as Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairman Bill Mechanic is finding out. For months, sources said, Mechanic has been negotiating deals with Arnold Schwarzenegger and director James Cameron to bring "Terminator 3" to the big screen. No matter that Fox didn't have the necessary underlying rights to the "Terminator" franchise.

James Cameron likes to point out that the world's most famous videotape--the footage of motorist Rodney G. King's beating by Los Angeles police officers--actually contains two segments. Amateur cameraman George Holliday shot scenes on the set of the Arnold Schwarzenegger action epic, "Terminator 2," at a location two blocks from his Lake View Terrace home, before capturing the beating.

Lions Gate Entertainment has taken a lead in the bidding for "Terminator," but competition for rights to the 26-year-old science fiction franchise is likely to heat up in the next month. In a federal Bankruptcy Court filing Wednesday, Halcyon Group, the independent production company owned by Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, asked a judge to approve naming Lions Gate as "stalking horse" bidder for the "Terminator" rights. The two producers put the film rights up for sale in September to raise cash as they work their way out of Chapter 11 reorganization.

As a survivor of leukemia, I was curious to see how "Dying Young" would tell its story. After 30 minutes of watching vomiting and screaming, I could take no more and I actually walked out of a Julia Roberts movie! The filmmakers exceeded themselves by showing a leukemia patient having treatment not given to leukemia patients, and they may well have mentally destroyed someone who has just been diagnosed with leukemia. Most wealthy patients get treatments in their doctor's office, not a run-down clinic as shown in the movie.

It was like the arrival of rain in water-starved California. Motivated by the opening of Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," moviegoers flooded the nation's theaters over the Independence Day weekend, bringing a sigh of relief to the film business. The sequel starring Schwarzenegger, reprising his 1984 role as a cyborg from the future, brought in $52.3 million over the five-day holiday period from Wednesday through Sunday, according to final figures released Monday.

Call it "The Shoot That Strangled L.A." Filming for Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest action flick, "End of Days," closed down several crucial downtown intersections Monday morning, trapping unsuspecting motorists in a rush-hour jam that angered even the city's most accomplished road warriors--and may continue through Wednesday.

A safe rule of thumb in any business dealing is never assume anything. Bucking that rule can prove embarrassing, if not frightfully expensive--as Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairman Bill Mechanic is finding out. For months, sources said, Mechanic has been negotiating deals with Arnold Schwarzenegger and director James Cameron to bring "Terminator 3" to the big screen. No matter that Fox didn't have the necessary underlying rights to the "Terminator" franchise.

Environmentalists asked the filmmakers to go shoot elsewhere. But the movie company believed the mountainous setting was a perfect location. The Bureau of Land Management agreed under certain conditions, and issued the filmmakers a permit. Now, none of the parties appears satisfied.

The bang-up box-office business for "Terminator 2: Judgment Day"--a near-record $52.8 million in the first five days--is reverberating through the home-video market, creating an incredible demand for the original. Suddenly "The Terminator," released in 1984, is the hottest video title around.

It was like the arrival of rain in water-starved California. Motivated by the opening of Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," moviegoers flooded the nation's theaters over the Independence Day weekend, bringing a sigh of relief to the film business. The sequel starring Schwarzenegger, reprising his 1984 role as a cyborg from the future, brought in $52.3 million over the five-day holiday period from Wednesday through Sunday, according to final figures released Monday.

As a survivor of leukemia, I was curious to see how "Dying Young" would tell its story. After 30 minutes of watching vomiting and screaming, I could take no more and I actually walked out of a Julia Roberts movie! The filmmakers exceeded themselves by showing a leukemia patient having treatment not given to leukemia patients, and they may well have mentally destroyed someone who has just been diagnosed with leukemia. Most wealthy patients get treatments in their doctor's office, not a run-down clinic as shown in the movie.

In "Looper," Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a hitman in the near future whose targets have been sent back in time; one day, the man who turns up turns out to be an older version of the assassin. To bring the premise to life, Gordon-Levitt had to look (and act) like Bruce Willis, who plays the older incarnation of his character, and that meant spending three hours a day in the makeup chair. "That was really scary because you commit to that and there's no real way out of it," said "Looper" writer-director Rian Johnson of using practical prosthetics to make one actor look more like the other.

Environmentalists asked the filmmakers to go shoot elsewhere. But the movie company believed the mountainous setting was a perfect location. The Bureau of Land Management agreed under certain conditions, and issued the filmmakers a permit. Now, none of the parties appears satisfied.

James Cameron likes to point out that the world's most famous videotape--the footage of motorist Rodney G. King's beating by Los Angeles police officers--actually contains two segments. Amateur cameraman George Holliday shot scenes on the set of the Arnold Schwarzenegger action epic, "Terminator 2," at a location two blocks from his Lake View Terrace home, before capturing the beating.

'Terminator' Figures Sue Hemdale Film Corp.: Loan-out companies for the star, producer, writer and special effects coordinator on the film "The Terminator" sued Hemdale Film Corp. and Orion Pictures alleging they breached a contract for distribution of profits from the film.