Fade Out: The Calamitous Final Days of Mgm

by PeterBart (Author), PeterBart (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1991

  $21.83

• Used

  Hardcover
  1990

  $3.49

  A behind-the-scenes account of the decline and fall of a once great studio, tracing MGMs corporate convulsions from 20 years ago, when Kirk Kerkorian bought control to the present, the financial disasters of Yentl , Mrs Soffel and 2010 and the final take over by Pathe. In 1983 MGM\UA was in the midst of a comeback. Under the new management of Frank Yablans the company had secured assurances of financial backing from CEO-financier Kirk Kerkorian and a series of dazzling new movies was in development. Top stars like Jack Nicholson, Barbara Streisand and Mel Gibson were on the programme, a sequel to the cult classic 2001 was planned and Wargames was in release. What nobody anticipated was that Kerkorian, ever the smart Las Vegas game-player, had evolved his own scheme to harness Hollywood's myth making machinery to his own personal ends. The end result was that Kerkorian emerged a billionaire and his companies emerged a shambles. The films anticipated to be immense successes - Yentl , Mrs Soffel and 2010 - turned out to be financial disasters of immense proportions. The Nicholson movie never even got made and the success of Wargames couldn't compensate for the extent of the disaster.