The prospects for the two-film Peter Jackson-helmed adaptation of The Hobbit got a little brighter this week as Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, the founders of Spyglass Entertainment, signed letters of intent to take over management of the troubled MGM studio. Barber and Birnbaum are in talks with Ken Schapiro of the private media investment firm Qualia Capital. According to the L.A. Times, Qualia is ready to step in with a $500 million investment to keep a scaled-down MGM going once the studio has gone through a pre-packaged bankruptcy that will turn its $4 billion in debt into equity.
Barber and Birnbaum want to shrink the size of the current MGM payroll of 450 by outsourcing distribution and marketing functions to another studio. But before they can implement their restructuring, the pre-packaged bankruptcy plan has to be approved by the studio’s 100 debt owners. According to the Times, momentum is building for Spyglass takeover, though there are other offers from Lionsgate and from Warner Bros. on the table.
Warners is co-financing the two Hobbit movies. According to Deadline Hollywood, the pending deal with the Spyglass partners “means that The Hobbit, with Peter Jackson at the helm, can move forward with co-financing partner Warner Bros. distributing the two films worldwide.”
There appears to be some outside confirmation that The Hobbit project is gearing up for production. Entertainment Weekly reports that Martin Freeman, who played Tim in the original