MOVIE NEWS ... MGM FOR SALE

MOVIE NEWS ... MGM FOR SALE

MGM may be the best known logo in the entertainment business, but the company seems headed for another possible garage sale. Several sources say they expect that MGM will essentially be auctioned off within the next few weeks. This would mean that a major, such as Time Warner, could buy the MGM-UA library while another entity might acquire the logo, and yet another deal could be made for United Artists. Sources speculated that Kirk Kerkorian, who has already bought and sold MGM twice, might buy the logo once again. The various equity owners of MGM, including several private equity firms, have already written down their $5 billion acquisition, which closed in 2004. MGM's library contains 4.000 titles, but some specialists in film libraries consider its list of titles to be geriatric. MGM's released only a remake of "Fame" this year. For 2010, it's opening two comedies -- "Hot Tub Time Machine" in March and "The Zookeeper" in October -- and a remake of "Red Dawn" in November.