Call it another casualty of the Great Recession, folks, but MGM is weighing its options in the face of horrendous losses.
As much as we’d all like to blame their lone theatrical release for the year (Fame! Nobody cared about it…nobody watched this crap! Fame! Go ahead, sing along! It’s fun.) for being the millstone around MGM’s neck, as it turns out, it was weak DVD sales that brought down the beast. MGM had a monster library of titles, weighing in at over four thousand titles, and now it’s all up for bids. Also up for sale is the James Bond franchise, and even the roaring lion logo.
Interestingly, though, it may not be as up for sale as we think–seems that MGM’s creditors are taking a pass on collection action for a while, and meanwhile, MGM’s pumping all the cash it can scrounge into its upcoming movies Red Dawn, the Hot Tub Time Machine and The Zookeeper.
Oh, sure, they’re pretty fair releases…a remake and two good comedies featuring solid comedy actors…but enough to save the studio? Scuse my lack of conviction on that one.
But only time will tell if MGM will still be selling off all its assets or if this year will turn it around.
Rosario Dawson is set to star with Kevin James in romantic comedy The Zookeeper.
The story, which is live action, is about zoo animals trying to teach the keeper their methods of dating and mating to help him win back the woman of his dreams.
Frank Coraci is set to direct from a screenplay by Jay Scherick and David Ronn, Kevin James, Rock Reuben and Nick Bakay. Filming will begin in late summer in Boston with a July 23, 2010, release date.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop star Kevin James is set to star in the title role in MGM’s The Zookeeper for director Frank Coraci.
Zookeeper is a tale of a lonely zookeeper who decides to leave his job because he can’t meet a girl, leading to intervention by the zoo’s animals.
Variety reported that James had always been his first choice for the role, particularly due to his ability to perform physical comedy.
Production is set to start hopefully this summer.
Actor Kevin James (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry), while out doing press for his new comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop, confirmed that he is still actively developing a new comedy called The Zookeeper for MGM.
He said: “There’d been a draft of it and there’d been writers on it but we’re rewriting and working on it now, and I hope to have my fingerprints on it and bring what I can to it… I play a zookeeper-another guy in a uniform, no moustache in this one, we may go very bushy sideburns-I don’t even know, but it’s in the beginning stages of that.”
Scribes Jay Scherick and David Ronn are attached to the project.