Word: orion
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Turning out Academy Award-winning films is no guarantee of financial success, or even survival. Just ask Orion Pictures, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week. Despite such recent commercial and artistic hits as Dances with Wolves and Silence of the Lambs, the studio, known for * allowing directors considerable creative freedom, was unable to support $570 million in debt and other obligations. The bankruptcy was triggered when bondholders decided to halt final negotiations on a deal to swap $285 million of debt for 70% of the motion-picture studio's stock...
Unlike its main competitors, Orion, founded in 1982, lacks a rich corporate parent to help finance the skyrocketing cost of film production, marketing and distribution. To make ends meet, Orion even had to sell off the theatrical rights to a major film it had developed, The Addams Family, which already has grossed more than $67 million for rival studio Paramount Pictures...
...making movies -- almost all of them successful. In less than four years his independent film company, Morgan Creek Productions, has produced a sizzling track record of 10 profitable films out of 11 releases. That is a notable feat at a time when several independent filmmakers and two major studios, Orion and MGM, are verging on bankruptcy. Despite mostly negative reviews, Robin Hood took in nearly $26 million during its first weekend, the eighth best film opening of all time. Industry experts predict that Robin Hood, which is distributed and partly financed by Warner Bros., could approach $150 million...
...Duchess of Malfi: Orion Ross did a magnificent job of blending artsy pretentiousness with the emotional struggles common to all people. David Gammons' stripped-down set accentuated Tanya Selvaratnam's stirring performance as the Duchess, and flying refrigerators kept the audience on its toes. The play might have befuddled the audience with its sexist behavior toward women, but this brutality only added to the tragedy...
...attract new investors, the studio last week disclosed plans for a "major capital or financial restructuring" and an executive shake-up that pushed chairman and octogenarian co-founder Arthur Krim into an essentially powerless position. Such actions may not be enough. Orion's upcoming releases look weak -- and the studio is so hungry for cash that last month it sold its most promising new picture, a movie version of TV's cult hit The Addams Family, to Paramount at a loss...