MGM-Pathé Communications
Company type | Privately held company |
---|---|
Industry | Movie studio |
Predecessor | |
Founded | 1990 |
Founder | Giancarlo Parretti |
Defunct | 1992Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ; reverted to
Fate | Foreclosure |
Successors | |
Headquarters | Los Angeles County, California United States |
Key people | Giancarlo Parretti (MGM-Pathé, 1990–1991) Alan Ladd Jr. (MGM-Pathé, 1991–1993) Frank Mancuso Sr. (MGM/UA, 1993–1999) Michael Marcus (MGM, 1993–1996) John Calley (UA, 1993–1996) |
Products |
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MGM-Pathé Communications was an American film production company that operated in Los Angeles County, California from 1990 to 1992.
The company was founded and controlled by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti through his purchase and merger of MGM/UA Communications Co. and Pathé Communications (unrelated to the French Pathé studio). The company was overshadowed by Parretti's fraudulent schemes and he found himself ousted from the studio in less than a year.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
History
On January 30, 1989, Parretti founded Pathé Entertainment (or Pathé Communications) after purchasing Cannon Films. Pathé Entertainment was named after the similarly named French studio that Parretti anticipated to purchase. When Parretti had announced his intent to make the purchase, the French government scuttled Parretti's initial bid to buy Pathé due to concerns about his character, background, and past dealings.[9] Alan Ladd Jr. was appointed as chairman and CEO of Pathé Entertainment.[7]
After bids by Parretti to acquire
Parretti gained interest from
Soon enough, chaos reigned at MGM. A check to
In March 1991, MGM clients took a complaint to Los Angeles lawyer Stephen Chrystie, claiming that they were owed money ($18 million total) that the studio refused to pay. In turn, Chrystie took this issue up to the
Soon after, Ladd and Parretti began engaging in a bitter power struggle.[8] When it became apparent that Parretti was making plans to regain MGM, Crédit Lyonnais seized control of the studio on June 17, 1991.[8][22][23][24] Parretti faced securities fraud charges in the United States and Europe.[25] On the verge of bankruptcy and failure, Crédit Lyonnais foreclosed in 1992,[26] assigned control of MGM-Pathé to a subsidiary,[6] and converted its name back to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. To no avail, Parretti had demanded that the MGM executive committee sell off certain assets in order to pay down the loan to Crédit Lyonnais so that he could regain control, but the committee declined due to concerns over the price adequacy of the portions of the company Parretti wished sold.[5]
On July 26, 1993, Crédit Lyonnais replaced Ladd as CEO by bringing in former Paramount Pictures executive Frank Mancuso Sr.[3][27] Mancuso then brought in Michael Marcus to head MGM[3] and former Warner Bros. executive John Calley[28] as head of the new United Artists.[3] As part of his exit package Ladd took some of the top properties, including Braveheart.[29] After the split, Pathé revived, but MGM/UA CI did not.[2] The company remained under control of Crédit Lyonnais Bank until 1996, when it was repurchased by an investment group led by Kirk Kerkorian,[4] who in 1997 also purchased Orion Pictures, thus obtaining rights to 1,900 film titles and 3,000 television episodes and bringing the MGM film archives to more than 5,000 titles at that time.[6]
List of films
- Death Warrant (1990)
- Desperate Hours (1990)
- Quigley Down Under (1990)
- The Russia House (1990)
- Company Business (1991)
- Crooked Hearts (1991)
- Delirious (1991)
- Fires Within (1991)
- Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)
- The Indian Runner (1991)
- Liebestraum (1991)
- Life Stinks (1991)
- The Man in the Moon (1991)
- Not Without My Daughter (1991)
- Rush (1991)
- Shattered (1991)
- Thelma & Louise (1991)
- Timebomb (1991)
- CrissCross (1992)
- The Cutting Edge (1992)
- Once Upon a Crime (1992)
- The Vagrant (1992)
- Rich in Love (1992)
References
- ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine (March 1, 1989). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Golan Quits Cannon Group To Form His Own Company". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ ISBN 0520232666.
A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow.
- ^ ISBN 1903364663.
- ^ ISBN 978-0786457403.
- ^ ISBN 978-0324582048.
- ^ ISBN 8179923266.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link - ^ ISBN 978-1135925611.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j McClintick, David (July 8, 1996). "The Predator: How an Italian thug looted MGM, brought Credit Lyonnais to its knees, and made the Pope cry". Fortune.
- ^ ISSN 0890-1759.
- The Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. April 1, 1989. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ Reckard, E. Scott (September 15, 1989). "Qintex Tops Murdoch with Successful $1.5 BILLION Bid for MGM-UA". Associated Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ Stevenson, Richard W. (October 11, 1989). "Deal to Buy MGM/UA Collapses". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ Stevenson, Richard W. (March 8, 1990). "Pathe in $1.2 Billion Deal to Buy MGM/UA". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ "Son of the Pink Panther". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
- ^ Horn, John (January 6, 1992). "MGM wants to roar in movie world again". Bangor Daily News. p. 17. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
- ^ "007 Producer Fires Legal Salvo at MGM". Variety. February 17, 1991. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ "A summary of Southern California-related business litigation developments during the past week". Los Angeles Times. October 15, 1990. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
- ^ Horn, John (January 6, 1992). "Historic studio back, but will it roar again?". Star-News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
- ^ Humphrey, Theresa (December 31, 1991). "Paretti removed from MGM-Pathe". The Daily Gazette. p. 17. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
- Sun Journal. Associated Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ staff (January 5, 1992). "Studio is looking into the future". The Daily News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
- ^ Wells, Rob (January 5, 1996). "Financier settles fraud charges with SEC". The Hour. Associated Press. p. 17. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- Spokane Chronicle. Associated Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ staff (July 26, 1993). "French bank installs new head at MGM". Boca Raton News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
- ISBN 2296314848.
- ISBN 0786406437.
External links
- See news sources on talk page