James binned: 007 axed, now available for children's parties

Jesus Christ! I knew they'd made some shit but that's a dreadful list of films. Who the hell was in charge of quality control?
And it's not that these films aren't making back the money spent on them, it's that they're not making enough to cover the interest payments on those costs.

They've got to make the shit to fund the smaller, "better" movies.

It's how Clooney got Solaris made.

They all made money though didn't they?

Wasn't Casino Royale partly funded by Sony? Just let them take over and get it made.

Look at some of the shit they put out in the last decade:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer_films
Piunk Panther movies, Agent Cody Banks movies, Legally Blonde movies - who the fuck was commissioning this shit?

Nick knows too much - get 'im, boys!

And that's why we get shit like Shrek 4 & Anal Decimation 5 etc etc I guess - shit sells & they want a huge profit for little risk.
Shame really, the rubbish funds the smaller, interesting films.
So Shrek 4 means I get another Von Trier film.
MGM are massive, an institution and it's odd to see them crash.

Shit. That's bad.

It's even worse than I thought. MGM have debts around $4billion and have been holding off the creditors for about 18 months while they look for a buyer who won't interfere, absorb their catalogue and close them down or delve too deeply into their finances (lol). They're expected to be declared bankrupt by the end of the year, new buyer or not.
Essentially they haven't been consistently making money off their films for at least 10 years and they had debts but the creditors weren't concerned until the stock market crash wiped out MGM's financial backup.
So they borrow $50 million here and there for a 2 year project, get properly fucked with interest repayments and then the film flops and they can't pay back the loan, still have no money to fund more films and have to borrow more for the next project, and so on.
It's a sign of delusion from MGM that 18 months ago they thought their films could get them out of a hole when they've been getting hammered financially and critically for making crap for so long. In that time their debts have increased a further estimated $1bil+, making them a lost cause.

It would be sad if Quantum of Solace turns out to be the last Bond film.

I think the question is, how do you get in debt when you own properties like The Hobbit and James Bond? Cack-handed accounting is my best guess.

MGM are in serious debt and can't fund the big budget films that would actually help clear that debt. They're pretty fucked unless they start selling off their rights.

I don't get it.
Bond films make tons of money, any Hobbit movie will makes tons of money.
Just don't make shit films...seems obvious but maybe I'm missing something?
I should have a job where every studio brings scripts to me and I read them and say "yes" or "no".

If that were true, we would never have heard of Twilight.
And there would be an assload more Costner in the world, which would be correct and right.
I'm watching Tin Cup, it's excellent.
"It's a spa"