MGM gets an extension on its debt

MGM is staying in business everyone... for now. Variety is reporting that MGM gets to skip the next three months of interest payments to its lender. Interest on 3.7 billion dollars is a lot of money. It's only three months, but what it gives MGM is some breathing room to figure out what it's going to do next.

The real goal has to be to get The Hobbit off the ground. The fourth movie in the Lord of the Rings saga is hopefully going to get the studio out of the red and into the black. Guillermo Del Toro is signed to direct and Peter Jackson will produce. The movie will undoubtedly be a success; the built in audience alone could generate anywhere from 300 to 700 million dollars worldwide. That's a lot of money! A lot of money! This extension will help, but I don't think it will solve anything. The only movie the studio has released THIS YEAR is Fame, and that has only produced 11 or so million dollars... um yeah... we'll wait for The Hobbit.