A little more than a year ago, when Bob Iger was CEO of Disney, the executive mentioned the James Bond franchise as something he’d be interested in purchasing, as the media company has been known for buying up rival studios and franchises. At the time Bond wasn’t for sale, but now with MGM exploring the possibility of being purchased, maybe new Disney CEO Bob Chapek should get on the phone?
According to the Wall Street Journal, legendary studio MGM has hired two banks, Morgan Stanley and LionTree LLC, to begin the process of finding a buyer for the studio and its massive library of TV and film content. And yes, that includes the James Bond franchise. The report claims the studio is currently valued at around $5.5 billion, but there is a thought that companies are so desperate for streaming content, we could be looking at a sale that is even higher than that number.
In addition to Bond, MGM is also the studio behind content such as the “Rocky” franchise, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Dances with Wolves,” “Rain Man,” “The Terminator,” “The Hobbit,” “RoboCop,” “Stargate,” “Legally Blonde,” and “Vikings,” just to name several. All told, the studio has a film library of over 4,000 titles and 17,000 hours of television programming. Yes, those are the types of numbers that will have anyone with a streaming platform, such as folks like Disney, Apple, Amazon, and WarnerMedia, take notice.
Obviously, the highlight of the studio’s output is clearly Bond. But that franchise does come with a caveat. You see, MGM only has half of the rights, with Barbara Broccoli’s studio owning the other half, including creative control. So, this wouldn’t be like Disney buying Lucasfilm and doing whatever it wants with “Star Wars.” That said, just having all those other titles and production rights is enough to get the attention of everyone in Hollywood. And if you’re someone like Apple, who is struggling to make Apple TV+ a thing, especially with its microscopic library of titles, purchasing MGM could be the instant boost that is needed for added legitimacy. And just a few years ago, MGM and Apple were in talks about a purchase, but that fell through.
READ MORE: MGM Has Reportedly Talked With Netflix & Apple About A Possible Acquisition
That said, there’s no real way of knowing where MGM might go. But with available studio libraries hard to come by, don’t be surprised if the company gets snatched up quickly.
