Got an extra couple of billion on your hands? If so, you could be the next owner of the Terminator series. You heard that right, the rights to ownership of the intellectual property, Terminator film franchise will be auctioned off later on this month in a deal that will surely test Hollywood’s intellectual property valuations at a time when film industry profits are under increased pressure from falling DVD sales.The sale, which comes weeks after the rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were sold for $60m – and is likely to exceed that – has sparked considerable interest because Terminator is a rare example of a blockbuster film franchise not controlled by a big studio.
The interest in the future rights of Terminator underscores the value of IP during a tough time for Hollywood. That value has held up, with Walt Disney recently agreeing a hefty premium in its $4bn deal to buy Marvel Entertainment.
According to Hollywood sources, the Terminator auction will come three weeks after the rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were sold for $60m. The Terminator franchise is expected to fetch as much as three times that.
Referring to the Turtles sale, Kevin Shultz, senior managing director at FTI which was appointed by Halcyon in the wake of its protection application, said of the Terminator auction: "We have a property that has made three times the box office takings."
No don’t you just wish you had a piece of that pie?
