MGM watch: 007’s studio decides to go with 1 CEO

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 007’s home studio, has decided to go with just one CEO instead of two.

The company said Oct. 3 that Roger Birnbaum stepped down as co-chairman and co-chief executive officer. That leaves Gary Barber alone at the top of MGM. Birnbaum will go back to being a producer and he’ll work out of MGM.

Barber and Birnbaum founded Spyglass Entertainment and they were recruited to take charge of MGM as it went through bankruptcy. Barber now will lead MGM as it seeks to become a publicly traded company again. Birnbaum, meanwhile, will be producing remakes of Death Wish, War Games and The Magnificent Seven.

For more, you can view stories by BLOOMBERG NEWS, THE DEADLINE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WEB SITE, THE WRAP and the LOS ANGELES TIMES.

MGM owns half the Bond franchise with the Broccoli-Wilson clan. The studio is co-financing Skyfall, the upcoming 007 film, with Sony Corp.’s Sony Pictures unit.

Skyfall soundtrack to avoid spoiler titles

Thomas Newman

Tony Lewis, a sound engineer working on the Skyfall soundtrack, says THROUGH HIS TWITTER FEED that the movie’s soundtrack is avoiding spoilers in the titles for individual tracks.

Two examples from Oct. 1:

Tony Lewis ‏@MusicEditorcouk
In other news, those who were asking about s/track name spoilers, you’ve got them. We’ve been careful to steer around anything giveaway

Tony Lewis ‏@MusicEditorcouk
@Skyfall007Fan no, sorry if I wasn’t clear – we’ve made the soundtrack titles NOT give much away

“Skyfall007Fan” and proprietors of Bond fan sites have peppered Lewis with questions as the soundtrack was recorded. He’s avoided giving anything of substance away (noting he signed a non-disclosure agreement).

The question came up because previous Bond John Barry-composed soundtracks have contained spoilers with tracks titled “Death of Grant” (From Russia With Love), “Death of Goldfinger” (Goldfinger), “Death of Fiona” (Thunderball) and “Death of Aki” (You Only Live Twice). In the case of Thunderball, the soundtrack made it to stores in November 1965, for the Christmas shopping season, a month before the film debuted in theaters.

The soundtrack, with music composed by Thomas Newman, is is available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

UPDATE (Oct. 7): To view the list of titles on the soundtrack, CLICK HERE.