MUMBAI: Seeking to put itself on a firmer financial footing as it looks for a comeback from the brink of a closure around two years ago, Weinstein Co. has sealed a deal for a new $150-million film financing facility with Union Bank of California (UBC).
The news comes in the wake of expectations that this time Weinstein Co. would take home multiple trophies at Sunday‘s Academy Awards for The Artist which has been a far more modest box office success than The King‘s Speech.
The new deal allows the studio behind films like The King‘s Speech and The Artist to pay off loans from Goldman Sachs and Ziff Brothers Investments that it took from them in 2009 and 2010 when it was struggling in bad waters to stay afloat.
It was The King‘s Speech, that gave a good hope after it grossed $139 million in the US and Canada. While in 2009, the studio had taken a $75-million bridge loan from Ziff Brothers and a $50-million loan from Goldman in 2010.
As part of the deal with Goldman Sachs, the New York-based studio turned over the rights of about 200 titles from its library to the company in order to pay off $400-million in debt. Goldman still controls those pictures, which include "Halloween" and "Vicky Christina Barcelona."
Weinstein has paid Goldman some of the money required to take back those pictures but has more payments to make.
