Cats may have nine lives, but lions obviously have more.
If you don’t believe it, just check out the history of MGM Studios, the fabled Hollywood entity started in 1924 by movie theater tycoon Marcus Loew. The magnate had purchased Metro Pictures Corporation and Goldwyn Pictures to provide movies for his successful theater chain. Then he bought out Louis B. Mayer Pictures to form Metro-Goldwyn Pictures. But when Mayer was named head of the whole production shebang, he inserted his name into the title and–voila!– MGM was born. Leo the Lion, the studio’s recognizable roaring kitty cat was already in place, but his image for the revamped enterprise was altered by studio publicist Howard Dietz in 1924 for the company’s relaunch.
Oh, yes: “loewe” is German for lion, so it all made sense.
What doesn’t make sense, in retrospect, is the topsy-turvy history that MGM and its incredible film library have had over the years. But it certainly is worth delving into, just as MGM is about to find a new life. The folks at Spyglass Pictures—whose past co-productions include The Sixth Sense, The Insider and Seabiscuit—have taken the reins of the once-mighty studio, and are attempting to bring it back to life after years of much-needed resuscitation.
So begins another chapter to add to the lion’s long and checkered history. Out of the gate and under Mayer’s auspices, the studio started great, establishing itself as one of Hollywood’s leading entities in the latter part of the silent era. Strong, no-nonsense management from Mayer and production chief Irving Thalberg had a lot to do with MGM’s success, as did contracts with big stars such as Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Myrna Loy, Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, James Stewart and many others. Their motto was: “More stars than there are in heaven.” How apropos!
The great films came out of the studio decade after decade until the 1960s, when MGM—like other Hollywood stalwarts—issued some costly flops. Particularly harmful to MGM’s bottom line were red-inking remakes of previous successes like Cimarron, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Mutiny on the Bounty and King of Kings, all big films with huge budgets. With Mayer long gone—he was fired in 1951 and passed away in 1957—front-office and production honchos changed with great regularity. Stability was not the studio’s strong suit, nor was guessing what the younger generation that frequented theaters wanted.
In the late 1960s, Canada’s Edgar Bronfman (whose son would later own Universal Pictures), an investor and Seagram distillery executive, owned the studio for a year. It was then peddled to Kirk Kerkorian, a Nevada millionaire with holdings in real estate and Las Vegas casinos. With help from his right-hand man James Aubrey, Kerkorian sold off assets of MGM, including part of its fabled Culver City lot and warehouses of filled with props and priceless memorabilia. Even a pair of ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz weren’t immune to being huckstered at auction.
Under this regime, Kerkorian and Aubrey approached production schizophrenically; one year, it all but screeched to a halt, the next, they decided to increase producing movies. Kerkorian built the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, then deemed one of the largest casinos in the world, and purchased competitor United Artists in 1981, mostly for its film library. The company’s new name became MGM/UA Entertainment Company.
This modification, however, didn’t last long. Communications mogul Ted Turner bought the company, then, after a mere 74 days, sold United Artists back to Captain Kirk along with the MGM name. But Turner received what he had dreamed about: Ownership of MGM’s pre-1986 library, the Warner Brothers and RKO libraries and several television properties including Gilligan’s Island. The ammo was more than enough for Turner to launch his Turner Classic Movies station on cable TV, and experiment in colorizing classic films despite many film fans’ protests. The fabled and highly valued lot, meanwhile, was sold to TV producer Lorimar Pictures, then later to Sony Pictures, who owns what’s left of it today.
Enter Italian entrepreneur Giancarlo Peretti, who tossed his hat into the MGM ring with backing from a French banking concern. Peretti’s legal problems followed him into his Hollywood bid, and Credit Lyonnais, which helped him secure the funds to purchase MGM, took the studio from him after fraud charges from Europe and America were levied against him.
Under the French company’s watch, MGM attempted to reestablish itself as a Hollywood player, cranking up their release schedule. Aside from 1991’s Thelma and Louise, however, the company had little to show for their efforts (Life Stinks or Fires Within, anybody?) and was forced to look for yet another buyer. And who but Kirk Kerkorian would step up to the plate again, this time pushing a newly refurbished MGM with a steady stream of new movies being made. In addition, MGM spent over $500 million in 1997 to acquire a huge reservoir of films from such bankrupt companies as Orion, Nelson and the Samuel Goldwyn Company to bolster their library and cable and video business.
Over the next ten years, MGM and United Artists had a checkered track record as both a production entity and a distribution company, for which it served at different times for The Weinstein Company and other indie studios. Three consistent properties that the studio (under the auspices of UA) has had over the years are the James Bond, Rocky and Pink Panther franchises. While Bond has seen a resurgence over the last 15 years with Pierce Brosnan, and then Daniel Craig, and Sylvester Stallone scored a win by decision with 2006’s Rocky Balboa, Steve Martin’s second turn as Inspector Clouseau in 2009 may have shown the French detective’s ship has finally sailed.
One of the people involved in trying to resurrect MGM and UA’s former glory was Tom Cruise who, in 2006, signed on with partner Paula Wagner to reboot UA with projects they would either produce or Cruise would star in. The short-lived relationship resulted in only two Cruise-controlled starring films, both disappointments: Valkyrie and, ironically, Lions for Lambs, a Robert Redford-directed bomb that also featured Meryl Streep and Redford. More recent attempts to bring new life to the banner in the guise of Hot Tub Time Machine and a reboot of Fame failed as well.
Now, after a debt exceeding $2 billion, a bankruptcy arrangement, and a new credit line of $500 million, MGM now seems to have a new life with the Spyglass crew with experience in making movies and financing. Awaiting release is the Guillermo del Toro-produced 3-D shocker The Cabin in the Woods and a reworking of the gung-ho 1984 actioner Red Dawn. On the production horizon, meanwhile, are a two-part Peter Jackson-helmed version of The Hobbit, a new feature version of the TV series The Outer Limits and a fresh take on Poltergeist.
Will Leo the Lion soon roar loudly and proudly or will he be experiencing déjà vu all over again? Only time—and the movies—will tell.