Fri Aug 17, 2007 — by Glenn Hauman

Marvel movies made messy by mortgage meltdown?

Put the touch on Tony Stark?

My spidey-cents are tingling, and I don't know that I like what I'm thinking.

First we have a piece from the Financial Times (via Salon) that says MGM may have delays in raising funding for a number of upcoming blockbuster movies, including the next installments in the James Bond and Terminator franchises due to the global credit crunch that is causing chaos in financial markets. Then we have a piece in Variety that shows that the bill for Endemol, the European production giant famous for "Big Brother" and "Deal or No Deal," has become a bit pricier thanks to the same credit crunch, and that it's also put a hold on the planned sales of Virgin Media, the U.K. cable outfit.

So now I'm thinking about the $525 million in financing that Merrill Lynch has lined up for Marvel to produce its slate of films, which is really little more than a credit line -- and I'm wondering how stable it really is. Does anybody how secure Marvel's financing really is at this moment?

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