California hedge fund Pacificor on Thursday said it has retained WME to represent it in the sale of all rights to the “Terminator” franchise.
Included are rights to exploit the property for film, television, merchandise and online games. In addition, WME will help Pacificor to select and retain key talent for the next sequel.
A U.S. bankruptcy judge in February ruled that the movie franchise could be sold to Pacificor, ending months of speculation after its former owner, Halcyon Holding, collapsed into bankruptcy in August.
Pacificor, Halcyon’s largest creditor in the bankruptcy, made a winning “credit bid” of $29.5 million to buy the franchise and promised to pay another $5 million to Halcyon’s bankruptcy estate for each future “Terminator” sequel.
The judge overruled an objection from Columbia and Lionsgate, which had claimed the auction process was unfair after their joint $35.6 million bid for the franchise was not selected. The studios also had promised to pay the estate an additional $2 million for each of the sixth and seventh “Terminator” sequels but no money for the fifth one.
Halcyon bought the “Terminator” franchise in 2007 for about $25 million and produced “Terminator Salvation.” The fourth film in the series took in about $371 million in worldwide boxoffice returns last year.
