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Hollywood Tiger & Bunny Film's Studio Global Road Files for Bankruptcy
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Film studio Global Road Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Thursday. The filing affects the company's film division, but its sales and television divisions will continue to operate. The mini-studio is one of the partners for the proposed live-action Hollywood film adaptation of Sunrise's Tiger & Bunny anime.
The studio has reportedly begun selling unreleased films in recent days, and it informed filmmakers with projects at the studio that they may shop their films at other companies. These projects include The Silence, which was slated for release on December 7, and Playbmobil, which was slated for August 16, 2019.
In the bankruptcy filing, the company reported between US$100 million and US$500 million in liabilities. The largest liability is about US$91 million owed to Bank of America. The studio's other largest creditors include Viacom, NBCUniversal, TBS, Disney, and Bank Leumi. Creditors including Bank of America seized control of the company's film division in August.
The company laid off 45 staff members after banks took control of the company. Global Road and its parent company Tang Media Partners had a total of 144 employees before the layoffs began, and 60 worked in the film division. The bankruptcy filing states that 40 employees remain with the company, but some are shared with other companies.
The Hollywood Reporter had reported earlier in August that Tang Media Partners did not have funds to continue Global Road's operations beyond the end of the year.
Donald Tang founded Global Road Entertainment in 2017 as the consolidation of IM Global and Open Road Films under his Tang Media Partners company. Rob Friedman runs the company.
Global Road Entertainment announced at the Berlin International Film Festival in February that it planned to spend around US$1 billion on production over the next three years. The studio released the A.X.L. film on August 24. The company pulled City of Lies, starring Johnny Depp, from its scheduled September 7 release date.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter (Eriq Gardner, Pamela McClintock), Variety (Brent Lang)
