As financially successful as the Lord of the Rings movies have been, they seem to be leaving a trail of dead studios in their wake. First it was New Line Cinema, which fell apart not long after the completion of the trilogy and now it’s MGM dying a slow death while they’re supposed to be making The Hobbit. But THR says there’s no reason to worry. MGM may be in trouble but they’ve found enough money to make The Hobbit which, when completed, will be exactly the kind of sure hit a troubled studio like theirs needs if they’re looking for ways to stay solvent.

Earlier this week we learned that MGM’s shareholders were considering letting the company go bankrupt. Now it appears as though they’re looking for ways to stay alive. They only have a fifty percent stake in The Hobbit, the other fifty percent is owned by Warner Bros, who absorbed New Line back into the fold when they went belly up. That makes coming up with the money they need a little easier and they’re coming up with a complicated plan of deferred payments and financial mumbo jumbo which no film fanatic should ever have to fill his head with. The short version is that Warner Bros. is covering things until MGM gets its act together. So don’t worry.

You have to wonder though if the James Bond franchise will be as lucky. The newly launched series has been a big success with Daniel Craig in the tuxedo and another movie was presumed to be on the way at some point. But when it comes to Bond, does MGM have another partner to cover their expenses when everything goes topsy turvy? Columbia Pictures may have their back and they’ll sort it all out eventually, but in the meantime, another Bond movie may be a long way off.