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MGM-Pathé Communications

February 13, 2023

MGM-Pathé Communications was an American film production company that operated in Los Angeles County, California from 1990 to 1992.

MGM-Pathé Communications
TypePrivately held company
IndustryMovie studio
Predecessor
Founded1990; 33 years ago (1990)
FounderGiancarlo Parretti
Defunct1992 (1992); reverted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
FateForeclosure
Successors
HeadquartersLos 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
  • Motion pictures
  • Video releasing
  • Cinema Chains
  • Television

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

 
Pathé Communications was named after the similarly named French studio.

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 New World Pictures and Kings Road Entertainment went nowhere, Parretti set his sights on purchasing MGM/UA.[8] In the mid-1980s, American businessman Kirk Kerkorian sold portions of MGM/UA to Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System. In 1985–86, Kerkorian repurchased United Artists and then MGM, but without the company's film library and Culver City lot and film processing labs (entities which had been earlier sold by Ted Turner to Lorimar).[3] In 1989, Kerkorian agreed to sell his MGM/UA interests to Australian broadcasting company Qintex[6][10] after they tendered an offer of $1.5 billion deal to beat out Rupert Murdoch.[11] However, when Qintex was unable to provide a $50 million letter of credit the deal collapsed.[12] Five months after the Qintex deal fell through, Parretti brokered a deal to make the purchase for $1.2 billion,[13] but questions were raised over Parretti's financial acumen.[14][15]

Parretti gained interest from Time Warner chairman Steve Ross; the company forwarded $125 million to the MGM/UA purchase in exchange for exclusive home video distribution rights to the studio's product.[8] Turner Broadcasting System advanced Parretti $200 million for domestic television rights.[2][8] Parretti also made deals with Fininvest, Sasea (a holding firm controlled by Parretti's business partner Florio Fiorini), and Reteitalia to fund the acquisition (it was later uncovered most of the deals came with certain conditions attached to them, or else were in fact fake deals used to cover money loaned under the table to Parretti from Crédit Lyonnais, his primary banking partner and whose involvement with Parretti's shady activities ran deep). He ultimately received backing from the Dutch branch of Crédit Lyonnais to complete the MGM/UA purchase.[9] He then merged it with his Pathé Communications Group, to form MGM-Pathe Communications Co. in November 1990. Once Parretti took control, he laid off most of the financial staff and offered a major financial role to his daughter Valentina.[8]

Soon enough, chaos reigned at MGM. A check to Dustin Hoffman bounced. The opening of Thelma & Louise was delayed due to lack of funds. The studio owed a line of credit to Sean Connery that wasn't paid.[8] Also the studio withdrew financing from the project of the nineth Pink Panther film and Blake Edwards sued the studio in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.[16] When Alan Ladd, Jr. came aboard, MGM settled out of court with Edwards and Ladd greenlit the film. There were also reports of unpaid laboratory bills, unpaid creditors, and rather eccentric behavior from Parretti.[17]

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 U.S. Bankruptcy Court. As it turned out, the studio's situation was dire that Chapter 7 bankruptcy was considered. Crédit Lyonnais refused to lend money to MGM any further unless the studio ousted Parretti from his position.[8] Parretti intended to sell off the James Bond's films distribution rights of the studio's catalogue so he could collect advance payments to finance the buyout. This included international broadcasting rights to the 007 library at cut-rate prices, leading Danjaq to sue,[18] alleging the licensing violated the Bond distribution agreements the company made with United Artists in 1962, while denying Danjaq a share of the profits.[19] Ladd, a former President of MGM/UA, was then brought on board as CEO of MGM in April 1991,[2][20] and James Kanter as chief operating officer.[21] The new change in management helped save the studio from involuntary bankruptcy.[8]

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

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c d Prince, Stephen (2002). A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow, 1980–1989 (illustrated, reprint ed.). University of California Press. pp. 14–16, 71–74. ISBN 0520232666. A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow.
  3. ^ a b c d e Finler, Joel Waldo (2003). The Hollywood Story (illustrated, revised ed.). Wallflower Press. pp. 143–144. ISBN 1903364663.
  4. ^ a b Kroon, Richard W. (2014). A/V A to Z: An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Media, Entertainment and Other Audiovisual Terms. McFarland. p. 417. ISBN 978-0786457403.
  5. ^ a b Constance E. Bagley, Diane Savage (2009). Managers and the Legal Environment: Strategies for the 21st Century (6 ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 952. ISBN 978-0324582048.
  6. ^ a b c d Rothman, Howard (2004). 50 Companies That Changed the World. see Chapter 48, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer: Jaico Publishing House. ISBN 8179923266.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  7. ^ a b Slide, Anthony (2014). The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry. see Pathé Entertainment, Inc.: Routledge. p. [page needed]. ISBN 978-1135925611.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ a b Epstein, Edward Jay (June 1990). "The Mystery of the Instant Mogul". Spy: 6, 85–93. ISSN 0890-1759.
  10. ^ Associated Press (April 1, 1989). "Australian Firm to Buy MGM/UA for $1 Billion : Qintex Group to Acquire 4,000 Films; Kerkorian to Retain Some Assets". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  11. ^ Reckard, E. Scott (September 15, 1989). "Qintex Tops Murdoch with Successful $1.5 BILLION Bid for MGM-UA". Associated Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  12. ^ Stevenson, Richard W. (October 11, 1989). "Deal to Buy MGM/UA Collapses". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  13. ^ Stevenson, Richard W. (March 8, 1990). "Pathe in $1.2 Billion Deal to Buy MGM/UA". The New York Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  14. ^ Citron, Alan; Cieply, Michael (May 6, 1990). "A Hollywood Mystery : Entertainment: Despite Giancarlo Parretti's lavish lifestyle and his bid for MGM/UA, the Italian financier remains a little-known outsider". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  15. ^ Richter, Paul (March 8, 1990). "The Mogul Behind Pathe's Bid: Entertainment: Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti has amassed an empire of TV and movie studios. But skeptics say his company lacks the finances to buy MGM/UA". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  16. ^ "Son of the Pink Panther". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved December 28, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ Horn, John (January 6, 1992). "MGM wants to roar in movie world again". Bangor Daily News. p. 17. Retrieved September 2, 2014.
  18. ^ "007 Producer Fires Legal Salvo at MGM". Variety. February 17, 1991. from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  19. ^ . Los Angeles Times. October 15, 1990. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  20. ^ Horn, John (January 6, 1992). "Historic studio back, but will it roar again?". Star-News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  21. ^ Humphrey, Theresa (December 31, 1991). "Paretti removed from MGM-Pathe". The Daily Gazette. p. 17. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  22. ^ staff (December 30, 1991). "Italian loses control of MGM studio". Sun Journal. Associated Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  23. ^ staff (December 31, 1991). "Judge gives MGM reins to creditor". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  24. ^ staff (January 5, 1992). "Studio is looking into the future". The Daily News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  25. ^ Wells, Rob (January 5, 1996). "Financier settles fraud charges with SEC". The Hour. Associated Press. p. 17. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  26. ^ staff (May 8, 1992). "MGM-Pathe auctioned to Credit Lyonnaise". Spokane Chronicle. Associated Press. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
  27. ^ staff (July 26, 1993). "French bank installs new head at MGM". Boca Raton News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  28. ^ Augros, Joël (1996). L'argent d'Hollywood (in French). Editions L'Harmattan. p. 320. ISBN 2296314848.
  29. ^ Nollen, Scott Allen (1999). Robin Hood: a cinematic history of the English outlaw and his Scottish counterparts. McFarland. pp. 201–203. ISBN 0786406437.

External links

February 13, 2023
pathé, communications, american, film, production, company, that, operated, angeles, county, california, from, 1990, 1992, typeprivately, held, companyindustrymovie, studiopredecessormgm, communications, companythe, cannon, group, founded1990, years, 1990, fou. MGM Pathe Communications was an American film production company that operated in Los Angeles County California from 1990 to 1992 MGM Pathe CommunicationsTypePrivately held companyIndustryMovie studioPredecessorMGM UA Communications CompanyThe Cannon Group Inc Founded1990 33 years ago 1990 FounderGiancarlo ParrettiDefunct1992 1992 reverted to Metro Goldwyn MayerFateForeclosureSuccessorsMetro Goldwyn MayerMGM HoldingsHeadquartersLos Angeles County CaliforniaUnited StatesKey peopleGiancarlo Parretti MGM Pathe 1990 1991 Alan Ladd Jr MGM Pathe 1991 1993 Frank Mancuso Sr MGM UA 1993 1999 Michael Marcus MGM 1993 1996 John Calley UA 1993 1996 ProductsMotion picturesVideo releasingCinema ChainsTelevisionThe company was founded and controlled by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti through his purchase and merger of MGM UA Communications Co and Pathe Communications unrelated to the French Pathe 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 Contents 1 History 2 List of films 3 References 4 External linksHistory Edit Pathe Communications was named after the similarly named French studio On January 30 1989 Parretti founded Pathe Entertainment or Pathe Communications after purchasing Cannon Films Pathe 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 Pathe due to concerns about his character background and past dealings 9 Alan Ladd Jr was appointed as chairman and CEO of Pathe Entertainment 7 After bids by Parretti to acquire New World Pictures and Kings Road Entertainment went nowhere Parretti set his sights on purchasing MGM UA 8 In the mid 1980s American businessman Kirk Kerkorian sold portions of MGM UA to Ted Turner s Turner Broadcasting System In 1985 86 Kerkorian repurchased United Artists and then MGM but without the company s film library and Culver City lot and film processing labs entities which had been earlier sold by Ted Turner to Lorimar 3 In 1989 Kerkorian agreed to sell his MGM UA interests to Australian broadcasting company Qintex 6 10 after they tendered an offer of 1 5 billion deal to beat out Rupert Murdoch 11 However when Qintex was unable to provide a 50 million letter of credit the deal collapsed 12 Five months after the Qintex deal fell through Parretti brokered a deal to make the purchase for 1 2 billion 13 but questions were raised over Parretti s financial acumen 14 15 Parretti gained interest from Time Warner chairman Steve Ross the company forwarded 125 million to the MGM UA purchase in exchange for exclusive home video distribution rights to the studio s product 8 Turner Broadcasting System advanced Parretti 200 million for domestic television rights 2 8 Parretti also made deals with Fininvest Sasea a holding firm controlled by Parretti s business partner Florio Fiorini and Reteitalia to fund the acquisition it was later uncovered most of the deals came with certain conditions attached to them or else were in fact fake deals used to cover money loaned under the table to Parretti from Credit Lyonnais his primary banking partner and whose involvement with Parretti s shady activities ran deep He ultimately received backing from the Dutch branch of Credit Lyonnais to complete the MGM UA purchase 9 He then merged it with his Pathe Communications Group to form MGM Pathe Communications Co in November 1990 Once Parretti took control he laid off most of the financial staff and offered a major financial role to his daughter Valentina 8 Soon enough chaos reigned at MGM A check to Dustin Hoffman bounced The opening of Thelma amp Louise was delayed due to lack of funds The studio owed a line of credit to Sean Connery that wasn t paid 8 Also the studio withdrew financing from the project of the nineth Pink Panther film and Blake Edwards sued the studio in the Los Angeles County Superior Court 16 When Alan Ladd Jr came aboard MGM settled out of court with Edwards and Ladd greenlit the film There were also reports of unpaid laboratory bills unpaid creditors and rather eccentric behavior from Parretti 17 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 U S Bankruptcy Court As it turned out the studio s situation was dire that Chapter 7 bankruptcy was considered Credit Lyonnais refused to lend money to MGM any further unless the studio ousted Parretti from his position 8 Parretti intended to sell off the James Bond s films distribution rights of the studio s catalogue so he could collect advance payments to finance the buyout This included international broadcasting rights to the 007 library at cut rate prices leading Danjaq to sue 18 alleging the licensing violated the Bond distribution agreements the company made with United Artists in 1962 while denying Danjaq a share of the profits 19 Ladd a former President of MGM UA was then brought on board as CEO of MGM in April 1991 2 20 and James Kanter as chief operating officer 21 The new change in management helped save the studio from involuntary bankruptcy 8 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 Credit 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 Credit Lyonnais foreclosed in 1992 26 assigned control of MGM Pathe 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 Credit 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 Credit 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 Pathe revived but MGM UA CI did not 2 The company remained under control of Credit 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 EditDeath 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 amp Louise 1991 Timebomb 1991 CrissCross 1992 The Cutting Edge 1992 Once Upon a Crime 1992 The Vagrant 1992 Rich in Love 1992 References Edit 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 a b c d Prince Stephen 2002 A New Pot of Gold Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow 1980 1989 illustrated reprint ed University of California Press pp 14 16 71 74 ISBN 0520232666 A New Pot of Gold Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow a b c d e Finler Joel Waldo 2003 The Hollywood Story illustrated revised ed Wallflower Press pp 143 144 ISBN 1903364663 a b Kroon Richard W 2014 A V A to Z An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Media Entertainment and Other Audiovisual Terms McFarland p 417 ISBN 978 0786457403 a b Constance E Bagley Diane Savage 2009 Managers and the Legal Environment Strategies for the 21st Century 6 ed Cengage Learning p 952 ISBN 978 0324582048 a b c d Rothman Howard 2004 50 Companies That Changed the World see Chapter 48 Metro Goldwyn Mayer Jaico Publishing House ISBN 8179923266 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location link a b Slide Anthony 2014 The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry see Pathe Entertainment Inc Routledge p page needed 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 a b Epstein Edward Jay June 1990 The Mystery of the Instant Mogul Spy 6 85 93 ISSN 0890 1759 Associated Press April 1 1989 Australian Firm to Buy MGM UA for 1 Billion Qintex Group to Acquire 4 000 Films Kerkorian to Retain Some Assets The Los Angeles Times 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 Citron Alan Cieply Michael May 6 1990 A Hollywood Mystery Entertainment Despite Giancarlo Parretti s lavish lifestyle and his bid for MGM UA the Italian financier remains a little known outsider The Los Angeles Times Retrieved July 14 2014 Richter Paul March 8 1990 The Mogul Behind Pathe s Bid Entertainment Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti has amassed an empire of TV and movie studios But skeptics say his company lacks the finances to buy MGM UA The Los Angeles Times Retrieved July 14 2014 Son of the Pink Panther catalog afi com Retrieved December 28 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link 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 staff December 30 1991 Italian loses control of MGM studio Sun Journal Associated Press Retrieved July 14 2014 staff December 31 1991 Judge gives MGM reins to creditor 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 staff May 8 1992 MGM Pathe auctioned to Credit Lyonnaise 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 Augros Joel 1996 L argent d Hollywood in French Editions L Harmattan p 320 ISBN 2296314848 Nollen Scott Allen 1999 Robin Hood a cinematic history of the English outlaw and his Scottish counterparts McFarland pp 201 203 ISBN 0786406437 External links EditSee news sources on talk page Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title MGM Pathe Communications amp oldid 1129842633, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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