Kristen Wiig and Zach Galifianakis’ new film is caught up in a financial mess.
The film—called Masterminds and ironically about a bank heist—is one of a few projects made by Relativity Media, which filed for chapter 11 last summer and goes into bankruptcy court on Friday morning with an appeal to emerge from the protection, reports Variety.
But that’s just the beginning of what’s sure to be a long saga. One of the studio’s creditors, OneWestBank, loaned Relativity $24.1 million for the production of Masterminds, but before it could be repaid, the bank was purchased by CIT Group (CIT). Now, the latter is tasked with recovering the $38.5 million it is owed due to backing the film and other projects, according to the Wall Street Journal.
CIT has been underperforming in recent years—a situation not helped by Relativity’s bankruptcy—and now investors are calling for the financial firm to be dismantled.
So what happens to Masterminds? After delay upon delay, the film is now scheduled to be released next September, according to WSJ. Let’s just hope no other financial institution implodes in the meantime.
