Editing United Artists (section)

===MGM/UA Communications Company===
[[File:United Artists 1987.svg|thumb|Logo used from 1987 to 1994.|class=skin-invert|160x160px]]
Due to financial community concerns over his debt load, Ted Turner was forced to sell MGM's production and distribution assets to United Artists for $300&nbsp;million on August 26, 1986.<ref name="Bart"/><ref name="Turner"/><ref name="Fabrikant">{{cite news |last=Fabrikant |first=Geraldine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/07/business/turner-to-sell-mgm-assets.html |title=Turner To Sell Mgm Assets |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 7, 1986 |access-date=January 26, 2015 |archive-date=February 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215030846/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/07/business/turner-to-sell-mgm-assets.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1986/08/27/turner-united-artists-close-deal/ |title=Turner, United Artists Close Deal |work=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |agency=[[United Press International]] |date=August 27, 1986 |access-date=September 20, 2013 |archive-date=September 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055612/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-08-27/business/0250090069_1_united-artists-turner-mgm |url-status=live }}</ref> The MGM lot and lab facilities were sold to [[Lorimar-Telepictures]].<ref name="Fabrikant"/> Turner kept the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television library, along with the [[Associated Artists Productions]] library, and the RKO Pictures films that United Artists had previously purchased.<ref name="Fabrikant"/> On August 21, 1986, United Artists announced its re-entry into film production; ''[[Baby Boom (film)|Baby Boom]]'' and ''[[Real Men (film)|Real Men]]'' were the first new films to commence production, with a slate of 26 films to follow in development.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Galbraith|first=Jane|date=1986-08-27|title=Following A Year In Upheaval, UA Is Ready to Resume Production|page=4|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref>

United Artists was renamed [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM/UA Communications Company]] and organized into three main units: one television production and two film units. David Gerber headed up the television unit with Anthony Thomopoulous at United Artists, and Alan Ladd, Jr. at MGM. Despite a resurgence at the box office in 1987 with ''[[Spaceballs]]'', ''[[The Living Daylights]]'', and ''[[Moonstruck]]'', MGM/UA lost $88&nbsp;million.<ref name="fu"/> That November, [[Hoyts]] and United Artists decided to end their co-production partnership.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1986-11-05|title=Hoyts & United Artists Pull Plug On Deal To Coproduce Features|page=29|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref>

In April 1988, Kerkorian's 82 percent of MGM/UA was up for sale; MGM and UA were split by July. Eventually, 25 percent of MGM was offered to [[Burt Sugarman]], and producers [[Jon Peters]] and [[Peter Guber]], but the plan later fell through. Rich, Ladd, Thomopoulous and other executives grew tired of Kerkorian's antics and began to leave.<ref name="fu"/> By summer 1988, the mass exodus of executives started to affect productions, with many film cancellations. The 1989 sale of MGM/UA to the Australian company [[Qintex]]/[[Seven Network|Australian Television Network]] (owners of the Hal Roach library, which both MGM and United Artists had distributed in the 1930s) also fell through, due to the company's bankruptcy later that year; Ted Turner attempted to buy the assets again but failed.<ref>{{cite news| title=Turner Buying MGM/UA| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/29/business/the-media-business-turner-broadcasting-seen-in-talks-to-buy-mgm-ua.html| date=November 29, 1989| work=The New York Times| access-date=October 2, 2014| first=Geraldine| last=Fabrikant| archive-date=October 6, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006092940/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/29/business/the-media-business-turner-broadcasting-seen-in-talks-to-buy-mgm-ua.html| url-status=live}}</ref> UA was essentially dormant after 1990 and released no films for several years.