Who says the movies are recession-proof? A lot of people, actually, yet for every record-breaking opening weekend while the economy is in the shitter, a small film studio, distributor or film festival is likely still hurting financially. Maybe even going bankrupt.

Today movie lovers are saddened by the financial woes experienced by two very different film-based institutions. CineVegas, a favorite film festival of Spout’s Karina Longworth, announced it will be taking a year off due to the current economy. Meanwhile, MGM is also in a desperate situation, though not necessarily due to the recession, and that could mean future Hobbit and James Bond films are also at least temporarily in jeopardy.

I’m not as concerned for those film franchises as I am for Leo the Lion, beloved MGM mascot and monumental film icon. I hope to never have to see the likely punny headlines referencing a certain Tokens song if the lion is forever put to sleep. As for CineVegas, I’ve never even been to the Sin City event, so I can’t speak firsthand to what a loss this is for the 2010 film fest circuit. Still, it made me very sad to read the news of its troubles today.

Check out what the film blogs have to say about each of these depressing stories after the jump:

• Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood broke the news about MGM’s very lengthy conference call with bondholders in a desperate plea for money. Here’s part of what occurred:
  

  So the bondhholders said to MGM, in essence, that they were going to let the studio go bankrupt and collect their money since they’d be first in line to get paid. But Cooper explained that this would be the worst possible outcome for the creditors and the company. Because if MGM were forced into bankruptcy, then it would lose James Bond and the studio doesn’t think it can stay alive without 007. Also, a lot of other issues would surface that would tremendously hurt MGM.

• Ross Miller at ScreenRant hopes, as a moviegoer, that the bondholders say yes to forbearance:
  

  That way, the studio can use that money to fund projects, including Bond 23 and (I think it’s safe to say more importantly) The Hobbit. With regards to the latter, I’m sure another studio would step in to fund it (the project is pretty much a guaranteed money-maker - what moviegoer is NOT going to go see The Hobbit?), but delays would still be very likely, I’d think.

• Lane Brown at Vulture notes that we had only just recently thought The Hobbit was good to go:
  

  With the recent resolution of that Lord of the Rings lawsuit, for a second it looked like production on Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit movies might actually get under way before next century. But not so fast!

• Rodney at The Movie Blog wonders if Leo is in more peril than any film franchises:
  

  So what happens when MGM can’t get their own bailout.

  Does this mean the end of films opening with a lion’s roar?

  Does this mean doom for The Hobbit films? I am sure there will be other studios more than willing to pick up the rights to The Hobbit should MGM close doors, but this just means more delays.

• Matt Goldberg at Collider is certain The Hobbit and James Bond are not in peril:
  

  So a bunch of movie sites seem to think that Bilbo Baggins and 007 are in the ICU and if MGM dies who knows when we’ll see these movies, IF EVER!  If you honestly believe that no one’s going to make these movies in the near future; that some producer or some studio is just going to sit on the rights to James Bond, shrug, and say, “Well, let’s just stick it in development hell,” or look at “The Hobbit” and think, “Yeah, those ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies were kind of successful but I think that was just a fluke; best not to chance it,” then you are an idiot.  You don’t have to be a lawyer or a financial wizard to figure this out.  I don’t know if MGM will survive or not, but as far as these properties are concerned, you should put down your inhaler and move on with your day.

• Merrick at Ain’t It Cool News agrees the big franchises aren’t in big trouble, but others might be:
  

  It’s a safe bet that both THE HOBBIT and BOND would quickly find new homes (THE HOBBIT at Warners or Sony? BOND exclusively at Sony?). But, what would happen to other properties - like ROBOCOP? BUCKAROO BANZAI? And much more?

• Elisabeth Rappe at Cinematical makes an educated guess about one of those lesser franchises:
  

  It also could be why all Robocop rumors have ceased. When Darren Aronofsky chose Black Swan as his next project, it seemed to be the unconfirmed death knell for his involvement with the reboot. Again, I have to stress that nothing was ever made official and he could film it after Swan, but there was a curious lack of progress on something that had sparked a lot of excitement and promise.

• Mark at I Watch Stuff makes light of the situation by poking fun of MGM’s past and future output:
  

  MGM reportedly held a conference call with bondholders (something business people do) informing them that, despite the studio’s early success of dressing up dogs and dubbing funny voices over them, now they’re super broke [...] Strangely, the article makes no mention of how this could affect production of MGM’s upcoming Jeeper Creepers 3: The Creeper Walks Among Us. That’s still going be OK, right? RIGHT?

• Kyle Buchanan at Movieline is worried about another future MGM release:
  

  the studio is desperate for some quick money so it won’t lose the rights to guaranteed cash cows like The Hobbit and the James Bond franchise. Who cares about those — we’re worried about Hot Tub Time Machine!

• Alex Billington at FirstShowing seems to believe MGM is barely worth saving:
  

  To be honest, MGM hasn’t been doing well in recent years. In fact, in my mind, they’re not a real studio anymore, in a distribution sense. All they really do is buy up titles, fund a few projects, and “distribute” a few flicks (not successfully), although they’re usually partnered with other studios (e.g. Sony for Bond, United Artists for Valkyrie, etc). Their upcoming projects include The Three Stooges, Cabin in the Woods, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Red Dawn - a strong set of titles but nothing that sounds like it’ll save them. Considering their history I hope they stick around, but at this point, I just don’t know what will happen.

• S.T. VanAirsdale at Movieline is saddened by the CineVegas hiatus:
  

  The previously annual event had developed into one of the best-regarded regional festivals in the country under the leadership of artistic director Trevor Groth (also Sundance’s new director of programming, which can’t help matters), Greenspun, and chairman/chief mascot Dennis Hopper; Movieline will always have the misty, black-and-white memories of last June’s fest. It will be missed.

• Anthony Kaufman at indieWIRE pessimistically fears that other fests will announce similarly sour news:
  

  As a regional film festival with plenty of fans and solid programming, the news does not bode well for the fate of film festivals around the country. Many events have scaled back their number of days; others have cut back in their programming; lavish parties are obviously a thing of the past. But what happens when entire film festivals go AWOL? This isn’t just bad news for filmmakers, but also distributors, who need local events to help boost their regional distribution efforts, as well as the cultural life of communities. All I can say is “ouch.”

• Mike Prevatt at Las Vegas CityLife’s CityBlog is surprised by the news given the past week:
  

  This seemed like a good week for CineVegas. Just last night, the native film festival hosted a who’s-who-attended screening of The September Issue, the acclaimed documentary about Vogue publisher Anna Wintour. That film was released theatrically today, as was Thor at the Bus Stop, the locally produced feature film prominently featured during this year’s CineVegas.

  And despite those issues, a recession still thwarted the fest’s plans for at least the near future. CV President Robin Greenspun and Artistic Director Trevor Groth just revealed a 2010 hiatus for the annual film showcase.

• Some of the film bloggers who were seemingly rendered speechless by the CineVegas news include Joe Leydon at MovingPictureBlog, Jason Guerrasio at Filmmaker Blog.