Back in September we reported on the financial troubles of movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (or MGM for short). The studio has racked up a debt of a whopping $3.5 billion (yowza!) and, at the time, it was, “teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.” The company has two big properties currently in its possession, those being the Bond franchise and the upcoming Hobbit adaptation.

Luckily, but not surprisingly, both those properties are quite safe, with Warner Bros. stepping in to foot the bill for production on The Hobbit, while also handling domestic distribution for the film (which will be split into two parts). As I said, no surprise there that the two franchises are safe (guaranteed box office bank if ever there were any), but it was nice for that to be made official.

Update: MGM has contacted the guys over at Film School Rejects directly to let them, and us all, know that this news is incorrect, and that Fox is NOT going to be distributing and marketing the Bond franchise. A source says that MGM owns the Bond franchise, and will announce the release date and distribution details in due time.

When news struck that MGM was in a little bit of financial trouble recently ($3.5 BILLION, little), two big projects/franchises were brought into question: the Bond franchise, and the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. With regards to the latter: as predicted, The Hobbit is quite safe, as the film’s other financiers, Warner Bros., stepped in to handle costs. But it appears the Bond franchise isn’t quite so safe.

Well, it’s still safe in that it’ll definitely continue on – let’s face it, it’s the Bond franchise and someone will always be there to pick up the financial reigns on it (it’s a guaranteed money-maker, no?). But fairly significant word comes from the guys over at We Are Movie Geeks who say that the Bond franchise might be packing its bags, loading up the moving van and settling in at la casa de 20th Century Fox.

[Update: Just as we thought, MGM's Financial backers are pitching in to save The Hobbit]

One of the biggest and most well-known movie studios out there is Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM, known for its classic logo with the lion roaring during the opening credits – an almost expected introduction to many of our movies from the last 85 years.

Well, we may have to get used to some movies without that logo at some point in the near future (at least for a while), as today we get word of very complex financial problems occurring at MGM, which basically boils down to the studio, “teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.”

When it comes to rumors there are those which do seem plausible but for whatever reason they just don’t seem very probable. Some are so outlandishly absurd (such as the infamous “Eddie Murphy as The Riddler” rumour) that there’s absolutely no way in hell they’re true. And of course there are those which sit in a not-so-happy medium.