More than $1 billion in worldwide earnings for "
The studio which came back from bankruptcy only two years ago, flirted with the idea of going public last July; however, ultimately decided to hold off until receiving the final tallies on "Skyfall" and "
Now that both films have performed massively at theaters, earning a combined $1.8 billion globally, it appears that time is coming.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has a group of banks lined up to lend it up to $650 million for financing.
Those funds would be used to help it pay back money borrowed from both Sony and Warner Bros. to respectively head its successful "Skyfall" and "The Hobbit" releases.
With its debts paid off, THR believes this will finally allow MGM to give the go ahead to moving forward with its long-planned IPO.
Back in October, THR reported the IPO could top $3 billion – and this was before the release of "The Hobbit."
The funds will also help MGM pay for future operations, movie, and TV productions meaning we could see future acquisitions or potentially more titles in the works.
With the massive success of "Skyfall" and the well-received "Hobbit," MGM has the comfort of sitting on those two franchises through 2014 (Daniel Craig has signed on for two more Bond films and the "Hobbit" was turned into a trilogy last July.
Other than "Bond" and "Skyfall," MGM has a "RoboCop" remake in its sights for the future.