Back-to-back James Bond weekends in Elizabethtown, Kentucky

James Bond will be on the big screen in Elizabethtown, Kentucky for back-to-back weekends beginning this Friday.

The Kentucky News Enterprise reports that Sean Connery’s Goldfinger and Roger Moore’s The Man with the Golden Gun will be screened at the Historic State Theater during a 007 movie series.

Goldfinger will be shown on 19 and 20 March at 8:00pm. Before the film begins this Friday, local historian Paul Urbahns will be on hand to discuss the gold vault and portions of the film shot in the area, Heritage Council Executive Director Dana Beth Lyddan said.

The following weekend, The Man with the Golden Gun will play on 26 and 27 March at 8:00pm.

The Historic State Theater Complex is located at 209 Dixie Highway West, Elizabethtown, Kentucky 42701-1533.

Tickets are $5.00. For more information on attending, phone 270-234-8258.

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James Bond concert in Costa Mesa from 16-18 June

Orange County’s Pacific Symphony has announced its 2010-11 pops concert line-up and one event is especially geared towards the James Bond music fans.

The Orange County Register reports that a special 007-themed concert will take place this June, held at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, California.

Composer/conductor Carl Davis will make a guest appearance with the Pacific Pops leading a James Bond program, along with vocalist Mary Carewe singing hits from From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and Casino Royale. Audiences are invited to get into the Bond spirit by dressing up as their favorite 007 character.

The James Bond concert will take place on 16-18 June 2010. To purchase tickets or for further information, phone 714-755-5799 or visit www.pacificsymphony.org.

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Sony wants to stick around with James Bond after MGM Studios sale

BusinessWeek – Sony Corp. will want a role in the James Bond movies once the sale or restructuring of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is complete, Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Lynton said.

Sony is interested in distributing new Bond films or becoming a production partner to Los Angeles-based MGM or its new owners, Lynton said at the ShoWest industry trade show in Las Vegas. He said Sony hasn’t held formal discussions with potential buyers.

“We would like to be as involved with James Bond as we’re permitted to be,” Lynton said in the March 15 interview.

The Bond movies are among MGM assets that also include film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and a library of more than 4,000 titles. The Los Angeles-based studio put itself up for sale after failing to make payments on $3.7 billion in debt.

There may be a role for Sony or another large studio, even if MGM is sold. Not all of MGM’s suitors are equipped to handle global marketing and distribution of the films.

Companies considering second-round bids for MGM include Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., the independent studio run from Santa Monica, California, that typically focuses on smaller genre films, including the Saw horror films and Tyler Perry comedies. Lions Gate couldn’t distribute Bond movies worldwide by itself, Vice Chairman Michael Burns said at a New York investor conference last week.

Other potential MGM bidders include billionaire Len Blavatnik’s New York-based Access Industries, New York-based Time Warner Inc. and Englewood, Colorado-based Liberty Media Corp., a person with knowledge of the situation said last month.

Co-Producers

Sony distributed and co-produced the two most recent Bond films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Both films generated a majority of box-office revenue from outside the U.S. and Canada.

Casino Royale took in 72 percent of its $594.2 million from foreign ticket sales. For Quantum of Solace, 71 percent of $586.1 million in sales was from outside the U.S. and Canada, according to researcher Box Office Mojo.

U.S. traded shares of Sony gained 23 cents to $37.80 at 4:02 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has gained 30 percent this year.

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Liberty Media, Elliott said to drop from MGM bidding

Business Week – John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. and hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. have decided not to bid for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. movie studio, according to people with knowledge of the bidding.

MGM’s value fell below a price Liberty executives believed would be acceptable to the Los Angeles-based studio’s creditors, said two people with knowledge of the Englewood, Colorado-based media company’s plans. New York-based Elliott, working with producer Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media, also pulled out, said two people, who sought anonymity because talks are private.

The thinning field of potential buyers lessens the chance of a bidding war for the studio, which stopped making payments on $3.7 billion in debt and put itself up for sale last year. Others exploring a second-round bid included billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries, Time Warner Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., people close to the process said on Feb. 3.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has set a March 19 deadline for formal offers.

Courtnee Ulrich, a spokeswoman for Liberty, declined to comment. Scott Tagliarino, a spokesman for Elliott, declined to comment. Mara Buxbaum, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles-based Relativity, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed query.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s $3.7 billion term loan was priced at 54 cents on the dollar today, down from about 55.5 cents early yesterday, according to two people familiar with the market who declined to be identified because the trading is private.

Recovery Value

The trades imply a recovery value of $2 billion, down from $2.41 billion on Jan. 4, when the loan traded at 65.25 cents.

In 2003, Malone withdrew from bidding for Vivendi Universal’s Los Angeles-based operations, including the film studio and theme park. Liberty, owner of the Starz Entertainment pay television service, is evaluating options for its three-year old movie-production unit, Overture Films.

Liberty’s Starz tracking stock dropped 28 cents to $51.81 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have gained 12 percent this year. Liberty Capital rose 60 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $34.85 and is up 46 percent this year.

TheWrap.com reported the departure of Elliott and Relativity earlier.

In addition to the bidders, News Corp., parent of Twentieth Century Fox, and Qualia Capital LLC, led by Amir Malin and Ken Schapiro, have each proposed restructuring Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s debt and injecting cash to recapitalize the company, people with knowledge of the process said in January.

New York-based Qualia’s proposal would involve a $500 million cash infusion to fund operations, and the conversion of some debt to equity, one person said then.

Library, ‘Bond’

MGM, created in 1924, owns a film library with 4,100 titles, and controls rights to the James Bond franchise. It released one picture in 2009 and has a co-production deal with Warner Bros. on the planned film The Hobbit, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel. Hot Tub Time Machine is set for release on March 26.

Sony Corp., which co-produced and distributed the two most recent Bond films, is interested in distributing future ones or becoming a production partner to MGM or its new owners once a sale is completed, Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Lynton said this week.

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Pinewood Studios launches film restoration facility

Pinewood’s media preservation, restoration and archive facility open for business

Pinewood Studios has launched its Media Preservation, Restoration and Archive facility with a reception attended by key industry figures from companies including Optimum Releasing, Canal+, Disney, Getty Images, and Warner Bros and the BBC.

Located in Pinewood’s Picture Post Production suite, the new facilities will provide restoration services for still and moving images.

Pinewood announced a deal last year with Optimum Releasing and Canal+ relating to the Canal+ British Library Archive which comprises some 1,400 classic British films including early Hitchcock, The Third Man, The Ladykillers, The Dambusters and many other titles from iconic names like Ealing, Carry On and Hammer.

As part of the deal, Pinewood will provide a large amount of the film and audio preservation and restoration services for the film archive, which has been based at Pinewood Studios for the past twenty years.

Pinewood will start with restorations of three classic titles—Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, Robert Hamer’s Kind Hearts and Coronets and Lionel Jeffries’ The Railway Children, each of which will be subsequently re-released theatrically and made available in Bluray/DVD. Pinewood will also complete the planned digitisation of the Canal+ Image UK Ltd stills archive.

Working in conjunction with Optimum Releasing and Canal+, Pinewood Post Production will provide managed, secure temperature and humidity controlled storage for the Canal+ Image UK library assets and has constructed two new, state of the art cold storage facilities to manage this process.

Speaking at the launch, Giles Farley, co-Managing Director of Pinewood Group Post Production said: “We are delighted to have offically opened the new facilities and are immensely pleased to have been joined by so many colleagues from across the film and television industry. Everyone present here today shares our passion for preserving iconic and historical film titles and still images. We are especially proud that our new state of the art facilities allow us to work with Canal+ to restore many classic British titles.”

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Sir Roger Moore interviewed in Which? Money Quarterly

Seven-time James Bond star Sir Roger Moore has given a interview to new magazine Which? Money Quarterly.

In the exclusive interview Sir Roger talks Bond and beyond, his work as charity fundraiser for UNICEF and several of his other recent projects.

007 fans can pick up a copy of Which? Money Quarterly in the UK at Tesco, WHSmith High Street & Travel, Martin McColls and selected independent newsagents for £2.99.

For further inquiries, visit which.co.uk.

As always, keep turning to the CommanderBond.net main page and our Discussion Forums for all the latest news from the world of James Bond.

Len Blavatnik eyes a starring role for MGM in his media empire

Financial Times – Len Blavatnik, the entrepreneur, has signalled his intention to combine his media investments with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the Hollywood studio being sold by its lenders.

Mr Blavatnik, who owns Access Industries, the US-based industrial group, told the Financial Times the studio “could be a good platform to expand our current assets . . . At the right price, it’s a great property.”

The studio, which produced Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, has fallen on hard times since being acquired in 2005 by a Sony-led consortium for $5bn (£3.3bn).

Initial bids for MGM have been low, and the sale is not expected to attract offers much higher than $1.5bn when final bids are made on Friday.

The value of its film library, the largest in Hollywood, has been hit by falling DVD sales, while plans to re-establish the studio as a production force ran aground when it failed to raise sufficient funds to make a slate of new titles.

But the studio remains attractive to buyers. It owns the James Bond catalogue and has the right to make future Bond films. It is developing a film version of The Hobbit.

Mr Blavatnik faces competition from Time Warner, which is flush with cash after spinning off its cable business, and Relativity Media, the production and finance group backed by Elliott Associates, the hedge fund.

Mr Blavatnik said he wanted to build a “media platform for the 21st century”.

His other media investments include a controlling stake in Top-Up TV, the UK media group, and a stake in Warner Music. He acquired the UK operations of Icon, Mel Gibson’s film company.

Revenues from media were “minuscule” compared with the rest of the Access portfolio, Mr Blavatnik said. “But in three to five years I would like to have more media and telecom assets than I do now, particularly in digital.”

Access owns Lyondell-Basell Industries, the chemicals company seeking to emerge from bankruptcy, as well as stakes in TNK-BP, the oil group, and UC Rusal, the aluminium producer controlled by Oleg Deripaska.

Mr Blavatnik is aware of the industry’s reputation for parting new investors from their money.

“It concerns me very much . . . I don’t want to be the next victim,” he said.

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Win Titan's Polestar James Bond collection

CommanderBond.net is giving away a free copy of the 2008 James Bond 007 collection from publisher Titan Books: Polestar.

The legend continues! Stand by for more adventures with the world’s greatest and most famous secret agent, James Bond, as some of his most thrilling missions are collected for the first time ever in a deluxe collectors’ library edition! This bumper action-packed volume collects ultra rare Bond stories that have not been seen since their original syndication: Flittermouse, The Scent of Danger, Snake Goddess, Double Eagle and Polestar! Plus a new introduction by Bond girl Valerie Leon (The Spy Who Loved Me), features on Ian Fleming’s home ‘Goldeneye’ and a look at the rarely seen Bond Zig Zag comics series, this latest explosive volume is not to be missed!

This competition is open to all members of CommanderBond.net (CBn). You must be a registered member of the CBn Forums and answer the following question correctly to be eligible to win. Not yet a member of CBn? Register here now—it is free and only takes a minute!

How To Enter:

To enter, fill out the following questionnaire and send a Communiqué/Private Message on the CBn Forums to ‘CBn Competition’ (Subject: CBn Mar10 Titan) by Midnight EST on 2 April 2010 (simply click on the link in this paragraph).

1. Besides her appearance in The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond girl Valerie Leon is also featured in another 007 film. Which film is it?

1. Diamonds are Forever
2. For Your Eyes Only
3. Never Say Never Again
4. A View to a Kill

2. What is your CBn Forum Screen Name?
3. What country/state do you live in?

By Royal Command audiobooks available for Amazon pre-order

The Young Bond Dossier alerts us today that Young Bond fans can now pre-order the US audiobook editions of Charlie Higson’s By Royal Command from Amazon.com.

These audiobook editions of the fifth Young James Bond novel will be released by Blackstone Audio. By Royal Command will be made available as a 6 disc CD, a 6 tape cassette, and MP3 and will be read by Gerard Doyle.

The release date is set for 18 May 2010—the same day By Royal Command arrives in hardback as well.

Pre-order By Royal Command:

• Order the audiobook edition of By Royal Command (CD) from Amazon.com
• Order the audiobook edition of By Royal Command (Cassette) from Amazon.com
• Order the audiobook edition of By Royal Command (MP3 CD) from Amazon.com

Keep your browsers pinpointed on the CommanderBond.net main page and our Discussion Forums for all the latest news from the world of Young Bond.

Sagging sales may drive down MGM bids

The Hollywood Repoter – Going, going … bankrupt?

MGM has a March 19 deadline for solicitation of bids for the Lion and its 4,000-title film library, but the latest round of due diligence is tugging down estimates of the studio’s worth. Six companies were invited to make firm offers after a previous nonbinding round of bids failed to top $2 billion.

One big problem: Annual revenue from exploiting catalog titles for global television once exceeded $500 million but has fallen to $350 million. That’s got some predicting perceived front-runner Time Warner will bid much closer to $1 billion than the minimum $1.7 billion likely needed to persuade holders of $3.7 billion in MGM debt to sign off on a sale.

If bids come in too low, the Century City studio would have to ask lenders for a fourth extension of the deadline for a big interest payment. The current debt forbearance agreement ends March 31.

MGM also would have to seek an extension of the April 8 deadline on a $250 million principal payment that comes due once its revolving credit facility expires.

If lenders balk at either extension—and their mood grows surlier by the day—the only place the Moelis-led effort to bail out MGM’s owners will be headed is to bankruptcy court. Then it would be only a matter of time before the, uh, lion’s share of studio equity passes from the current consortium to lenders.

A proposed outright sale would have to approved by lenders unanimously; a prepackaged bankruptcy would need two-thirds approval. MGM’s debt had been held among more than 140 lenders, though recent consolidation of their ranks has lowered the number a bit.

MGM’s owners include Providence Equity, TPG Capital, Sony, Comcast, DLJ Merchant and Quadrangle. Those invited to a second round of bidding include Time Warner, Lionsgate, Liberty Media, Summit Entertainment, Access Industries and Elliott Management.

MGM chief Stephen Cooper, brought in to replace former CEO Harry Sloan, is a turnaround specialist whose preference all along has been a debt restructuring rather than an outright sale of the studio. A prepackaged bankruptcy would amount to a restructuring, but there is the related question of studio management.

Cooper, who draws a six-figure monthly paycheck, could be replaced if the restructuring comes with a cash infusion by a new equity partner. That’s most likely if the capital comes from an investor with a seasoned film team.

Lionsgate, Access, Spyglass and Qualia are among companies that could be tapped for more limited MGM investments, if bidding for the entire studio comes up short. Access, a diversified conglomerate controlled by industrialist Len Blavatnik, might be the bidder most likely to keep current management.

MGM’s valuation problem stems from its aging library. The studio hasn’t had a release in months, though it’s set to unspool “Hot Tub Time Machine” on March 26.

Current owners mothballed production until a couple of years ago, so the studio’s DVD revenue has been declining. More recently, the dust on the catalog has begun to undermine MGM’s once-robust international TV licensing biz.

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