It has been reported that Imagi has had many financial issues the past several months. First they ran out of money trying to finish Astro Boy. I'm not sure if they went over the production budget, or too much was spent on the prepro of other films. Whatever the case, they ended up looking for a cash infusion to take care of matters. It sounded like they were pretty desperate, and for many months they were preparing for the possible closure of the studio.
Just a week ago, an article appeared in Forbes announcing that they found the needed funding to keep going. However, if you believe the most recent rumors, that fell apart. Several websites are claiming that Imagi is being shut down. Whether that is permanent or not, has yet to be seen. Again, this could be rumor. We are waiting to hear more.
Imagi's budget problems can be blamed on themselves. However, the inability to get additional funding to keep them afloat is only partially their problem. The financial situation the world banks are in right now is putting the kabosh on most funding. Investors are scared and banks are being ultra stingy with whatever money they have. The situation these banks have gotten us in, just drives me completely insane. Their greed has brought this country and many others to its knees. The US government has a hand in this nightmare too. I'm so irate that they are handing out money left and right without putting more restrictions on how it is used. Someone needs to oversee this crap. Okay. Deep breath. Back to the subject...
I'm close to a few business deals right now that are trying to get funding. Everyone has signed on the dotted line. Matter of a fact, that has happened long ago. The banks are just delaying and moving very slowly with the actual transfer of funds. They have bigger problems and frankly are scared to do anything. So deals are going through, just very slowly. Another side effect of all of this is that if you want money, you need to pay outlandish commissions, fees, and interest. Because if you don't, you simply won't get anything. Companies are stuck in a terrible situation. Either they don't get their money or they get it and immediately put themselves in a hole to be able to pay back these unreasonable terms.
Just recently, DreamWorks (not the animation side) put out a release saying that they received $1.2 billion in funding. If I'm not mistaken, I made a mention of it in another post. The deal was part debt and part equity financing. Come to find out, and rumor has it, the debt portion fell through! So even if you are a big company with big names behind it. You are hurting when trying to get an infusion.
What a screwed up time we are in. Those of you out there trying to get money to finance a company or project, good luck. I'm hopeful that things will improve, but frankly, this could be going on for a very long time. And I don't think we've hit rock-bottom yet.
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