Fox Seeks Clarification in Relativity Media Asset Sale

24 Aug, 2015 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Fox Broadcast Co. file reservation of rights claims regarding film and TV content

Fox Broadcasting Co. and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Aug. 24 filed a joint claim against bankrupt Relativity Media seeking clarification regarding select content contracts.

The claim filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeks to determine if any stalking-horse bid for Relativity’s movie and TV assets includes Fox content, and if so, that the studio and broadcasters’ rights are included.

A staking-horse bid typically affords senior debt holders of a bankrupt company the right to acquire the latter’s assets — reportedly worth about $250 million in regards to Relativity Media, which filed for Chapter 11 protection July 30.

Specifically, the filing cites horror thriller The Lazarus Effect, starring Olivia Wilde and Mark Duplass, which generated $36.1 million at the global box office on a production budget of $3.3 million.

Fox Home Entertainment released the movie into the retail channel June 16, generating about $2.6 million in combined DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales, according to The-Numbers.com.

“Fox files this ‘reservation of rights’ in the event the debtors [Relativity Media] no longer intend to assume and assign the ‘Fox contracts’ and, in addition, to reserve its rights to file any supplemental or additional objections and assert its rights under sections of the ‘bankruptcy code,’” lawyers for Fox wrote in the filing.

A hearing on the claim and other matters is slated for Aug. 25.

 

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