He told us he’d be back: Lionsgate bids $15m for Terminator franchise…

Great news for T fans (and we TSCC fans too)… breathe life back into this franchise.

Variety has it:

Lionsgate has stepped up as the leading bidder for the rights to the “Terminator” franchise with an offer of $15 million and a 5% cut of future gross receipts.Bid was disclosed Wednesday in a federal bankruptcy court filing by Halcyon Group, which put the franchise up for sale in September. With Lionsgate as the “stalking horse” bidder, any other company that wants to bid would have to top its offer by at least $500,000. Other bidders would have until Feb. 4 to submit their offers.

The auction for the “Terminator” assets — which include the rights to future “Terminator” pics, TV series, DVDs and merchandise — will be held four days later, on Feb. 8, at the offices of FTI Consulting in Los Angeles.

Filing also disclosed that bids at the auction must be in increments of at least $1 million.

If it’s not the winningbidder, Lionsgate will receive $750,000 as a breakup fee. Filing didn’t disclose whether any other bids have been submitted….