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MGM Studios' financial troubles will soon be coming to a sad end. Back in September, it was reported that MGM was in such poor shape that they might be forced to auction off their assets, including James Bond and The Hobbit. That day has come to pass. Variety reports that MGM Studios is officially on the auction block.

MGM has been given a month of breathing space from their interest payments, time they plan on using to begin "a process to explore various strategic alternatives including operating as a standalone entity, forming strategic partnerships and evaluating a potential sale of the company."

But all hopes of survival may rest on what they sell off from their glorious history, including a library of 4,000 titles, the logo, the United Artists company, James Bond, and half ownership in The Hobbit. Time Warner, News Corp, and Lionsgate are said to be interested in all of the above.

As their library scatters to the four winds, it'll be really interesting to see what remakes and reboots it spawns. Remember, Robocop was on the MGM remake slate, and surely some hungry studio will snap that up. The Cannon Films and ITV Global Entertainment collections are just ripe for harvesting. Perhaps you'll finally see a Lifeforce movie, or a remake of Capricorn One, or an aspiring Tarantino type will buy up all those American International Picture rights and revive motorcycle gang movies. Sure, we all want to know who will wind up with James Bond, but it'll be far more fascinating if someone tries to remake Psych-Out. *


*It's possible this is considered one of AIP's "early" films, though it's unclear where that cut off date is.

I have an odd fascination with fan made videos. I don't care if it's a 12 year old who got his hands on a copy of Adobe Premiere or a grown man who edits together fan made trailers for films that never existed (I love me some Raiders of the Lost Ark 1951 or Ghostbusters 1954), if someone spends enough time to put together a video born out of their passion for film, chances are I'm probably going to watch it at least once. Now, if you happen to edit together a music video for a catchy song comprised of film quotes, well, I'm probably going to play it on a loop for at least half an hour.

That is exactly what I've been doing with the below music video for Ricardo Autobahn's "The Golden Age of Video". Ricardo's own site describes it as "an epic production constructed of disco beats and film samples", which I'd say is a pretty fair assessment. Granted, it's not exactly the best song ever, but how can you not get a kick out of something that strings together samples from Freaks, Ghostbusters, The Godfather, Star Wars, Robocop, On the Waterfront, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and even Short Circuit into an addicting little medley? There's a good bit of TV show clips thrown in for good measure, but the majority of the 'lyrics' are taken from a bevy of film classics.

Oh, and if your place of work has a problem with Bill Murray describing what he just did to a ghost's rear end, I suppose his refrain classifies this as lightly not-safe-for-work. Enjoy.

MGM has been plagued by financial woes for much of their long and illustrious career, but their most recent crisis could end up costing them two of their biggest titles. Nikke Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily is breathlessly reporting that the studio is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy with over $3.5 billion in debt. MGM held a very long conference call with their creditors, pleading with themto waive their interest payments until February 2010, and allow them the cash they need for the rest of the year, particularly to fund its upcoming slate of films. Naturally, some of those are highly anticipated, such as Robocop, The Hobbit, and the latest James Bond installment.

However, MGM's creditors aren't feeling particularly charitable, and may force the studio to file for bankruptcy. If that happens, they could lose James Bond, The Hobbit, and numerous other franchises as MGM would have to sell them to the highest bidder. Right now, they're trying to convince their Scrooges that bankruptcy is the worst possible option, and that Bond and Bilbo are big enough moneymakers to cover their debt. That's where the situation stands now, and it'll certainly be quite the economic spectacle to watch.

I find the news particularly interesting in light of Peter Jackson's remarks on The Hobbit at ComicCon, when he squashed rumors that the film was in the casting stages, and noted that it hadn't even really been green-lit or had its budget approved yet. It was a douse of cold water after a lot of breathless excitement, much of which seemed to come straight from the filmmakers themselves. Could the brakes have been put on because of MGM's financial woes? Possibly.

Continued below the jump

We've seen the ads, we've seen a trailer, but we really have no idea what to expect from this week's release of Gamer. Except that it's directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the madmen of action cinema, and it's set in the near future, and it concerns an online game that involves mind control. Cool! If we're lucky, maybe we can figure out what's happening before a migraine sets in from all the on-screen insanity sure to be unleashed from the people behind Crank and Crank High Voltage.

Focusing on the mind control angle for a moment led me to think about all the great sci-fi movies that have played around with the idea of remote control mental gymnastics. The adolescent brain immediately seizes on the possibilities inherent in stripping unsuspecting young ladies down to the buff (thanks a lot, Zapped!), yet the more mature thinker wonders about deeper issues, like what to do with a woman who will only go out with you because you gave her no choice.

1. X-Men
Bryan Singer wove the mind control battle between Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) into the fabric of the story. You could enjoy Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) discovering a fuller range of his powers, sympathize with the desperate plight of Rogue (Anna Paquin), admire Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), or simply try and stare through the body paint covering Mystique (Rebecca Romijn). Lurking in the background, though, was a duel between good and evil, with Professor Xavier favoring gentle nudges in the right direction and Magneto ready to wage an all-out war.

Read the Rest at SciFi Squad

I grew up reading science fiction, thinking my beloved genre was all about the possibilities of the infinite: advanced civilizations inhabiting distant star systems; men with brains so large and hearts so beneficent they could barely be contained within their bodies; women with beauty so magnificent and intellect so stunning they would leave bystanders breathless.

And they I started watching movies and eventually realized it's all about death, destruction ... and more death.

This week's release of The Final Destination, which is obsessed with staging elaborate 'kill scenes,' got me thinking about memorable scenes of demise in science fiction films. Sci-fi is notably short of serial killers, but offers a wider range of death scenes, beyond simple murder and mayhem. Here's my list of the top 10 sci-fi deaths. (Of necessity, this list is nothing but spoilers, so you have been warned.)

1. The Emperor (Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi)

Everyone knows where they were when they saw the Emperor get what was coming to him. Me, I was in the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, opening night, second showing, near 5:00 a.m., shouting (and ultimately cheering and applauding) along with the rest of the sold-out auditorium as Luke looked between his father and the Emperor, in pain, agonizing, understanding that the man he had hated was being tortured by the man who should be hated. And then he made the right call. Goosebumps still raise up in the glory of the memory.

Read the rest over at Sci-Fi Squad

There are no songs written about the summer of '87, but I remember well. As well as someone who is in her 30's can remember when she was 11, anyway. There were some fine movies out that summer, and when I say fine, I mean "I'm Netflixing this ASAP" fine or "this was totally awesome when I was 11" fine. There were the Bangles, the Borscht Belt, big schwartzes, and much more.

5/1 -- The Allnighter: Did someone forget to tell me that there's a romcom beach bunny movie starring Susanna "Manic Monday" Hoffs and Joan Cusack with a Pam Grier cameo? I don't care if it got 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, I am adding this to my Netflix Slumber Party list right now.

5/8 -- Hot Pursuit // River's Edge: Another "I'm so lovable yet dorky" John Cusack vehicle versus Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper dancing with a blow-up doll, and a dead body? The grown-up me says River's Edge all the way! If you've ever heard Crispin Glover humor audiences with his actual Southern Cali accent as heard in River's Edge, you'll know it's a treat. On the other hand, Hot Pursuit was written and directed by Steven Lisberger, who wrote the original Tron as well as its remake!

One of Darren Aronofsky's most intriguing ideas may actually come to fruition now that everyone with money likes him again. He wants to make a Biblical epic about Noah, who he calls "a dark, complicated character." Lest you think it has been forgotten between The Wrestler and Robocop, Aronofsky told /film that it's not only still on -- he's finished the script:

"I wrote it. Me and Ari Handel, the guy who worked on The Fountain. It's a great script and it's HUGE. And we're starting to feel out talent. And then we'll probably try and set it up ... [the budget] is big. I mean, Look... It's the end of the world and it's the second most famous ship after the Titanic. So I'm not sure why any studio won't want to make it. It's a really cool project and I think it's really timely because it's about environmental apocalypse which is the biggest theme, for me, right now for what's going on on this planet. So I think it's got these big, big themes that connect with us. Noah was the first environmentalist. He's a really interesting character. Hopefully they'll let me make it."

Now that he's in the spotlight again -- the deserved center of huge buzz and Oscar talk -- I suspect a studio may just make a grab for it. Surely, there has to be a studio president, somewhere, who really liked The Fountain, and wouldn't mind funding another epic by Aronofsky and Handel? We may actually live to see the day when a studio is dying to buy an Aronofsky movie.

We came, we saw ... Con kicked our ass. Here are some quick tidbits of interest:

• The first trailer for Saw V was released in conjunction with that film's panel here last night. It's over at Yahoo!, but thanks to the magic that is embed players, you fine folks can see if after the jump. Yes, Jigsaw is back ... but this time something's gotta be done about his kids, Marty! Wait ... back up ... puzzles, traps, blood -- that's more like it.
• MGM has confirmed via press release that Darren Aronofsky will officially helm a Robocop remake. And, no, I looked out my window and pigs were not flying. Also, in the same press release, they noted that Brett Ratner will be directing God of War. There's a potential for awesomeness in either project, but it's still too early to tell.
  
• The two Red Sonja posters unveiled during the panel yesterday (see our report here) hit the Cinematical inbox this morning, and, yes, I believe it is true what they say about redheads: They like to lick blood off of swords. See both above.
• Wolverine footage screened yesterday during the Fox panel, and it was pretty awesome. Dynamite teaser moment: Wolverine telling Sabretooth: "I'm gonna cut your goddamn head off!" Everything I'm hearing about this flick is that it's dark, sadistic and wicked ... and I cannot flippin' wait.
• IGN has the Punisher: War Zone footage from last night's panel.
• I heard the Twilight panel was absolutely off the charts as far as tween female geekdom goes. Never have so many mothers and daughters gone so ballistic in one area at the same time -- I'm not sure if anyone called Guinness, but some sort of record was definitely broken.
• We missed the paltry G.I. Joe panel, but JoBlo has a pretty good rundown of it in case you're interested. No footage was shown, just a slideshow of stuff we've already seen and maybe one or two action shots.
• Last but not least, The Masters of the Web panel was a good time. This was my first ever Con panel (as a panelist) and luckily I didn't throw up or accidentally spit on AICN's Quint (who sat next to me).I'd call that a success.
  

What could make a remake of an edgy '80s classic worthy of our valuable time? A top-notch director, of course. Within a Hollywood Reporter article focused on MGM's new chairman, Mary Parent (and all the franchises she's kicking into high gear) is one heck of a good name drop. According to the studio, Darren Aronofsky has stopped by to talk about helming the Robocop remake.

Now stop and savor how brilliant Aronofsky's Robocop would be. Doesn't that feel nice? Don't get too excited, as it's probably too good to be true, but what if? Not only could he actually make a film that could rival the bitter satire of Paul Verhoven's original, but it would actually give him some long overdue recognition and box office success. (Yes, I know we film nuts know him like he's our best friend -- but have you actually discussed The Fountain around the water cooler lately?)

Aronofsky has been dancing around big budget movie making for years. I don't know how many comics adaptations he's been attached to over the years -- I can think of Batman, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Ronin off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure there's more. Robocop really does seem right up his alley. Let this idea actually come together. I think audiences deserve it.

[via CHUD]

We knew it was coming, but now they're getting serious -- debuting a brand new Robocop teaser poster at the Licensing International Expo, which also brought us a Terminator Salvation poster and tons of Half-Blood Prince goodies. Of course, Robocop hasn't been cast yet, and so that's not some mysterious A-list actor hiding underneath the helmet. It's just a teaser ... and in this day and age, teasers come well before films even go into production.

I'm actually one of those who think a Robocop remake could look cool if done right, and with the popularity of Iron Man now at an all-time high, I could see MGM and the Robocop filmmakers taking notes before heading in a comic book-esque direction with the character and the eventual movie. The poster itself is totally retro, and I dig that about it, so I guess we'll see.

Is Robocop the kind of remake you'd get behind?

[via The Movie Blog]