Quantcast
Terminator rights to be auctioned off - SciFiNow

Terminator rights to be auctioned off

Franchise goes under the hammer.

terminator-salvation-picThe rights to the Terminator franchise are to be sold at auction, according to a report in the Financial Times, ending The Halcyon Company’s short stint as curators of the series several months after Halcyon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The auction will take place later in the month, and it is expected to fetch a larger price than the $25 million Halcyon paid for the rights originally. The auction won’t cover previous films released in the Terminator series, but it will give the successful bidder the option to produce new films and television series should they decide to. Recent additions to the Terminator series have included Terminator Salvation, the fourth film, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on television.

The sale is being conducted by FTI Capital Advisors, the firm Halcyon appointed when they applied for bankruptcy protection. The filing came after a dispute with the hedge fund that lent them money to purchase the Terminator rights, Pacificor, when the company made a payment demand that could not be met.

The sale of the rights is yet another in a bumper year for intellectual property value. Last month, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise was sold to Viacom by Mirage Entertainment and 4Kids Entertainment for $60 million, while earlier in the year, comics giant Marvel was sold to Disney for $6 billion.