I think we all know that going to the center of the Earth is a pretty expensive trip. This isn’t going to Pittsburgh in the summer to visit your Aunt Beatrice, this is down into the bowels of our planet, and you better have some ready cash if you want to make the…journey. Otherwise, Brendan Fraser is going to be going debt collecting on your ass.
According to the Montreal Gazette, Meteor Studios, based in Canada, filed for bankruptcy after finishing work on the special effects for Journey to the Center of the Earth. That act is of consternation to the former employees, since they claim they are owed $1 million in salary for their work on making it look like Fraser and his compatriots were about to eaten by a giant plant and whatnot. Meteor doesn’t list their claim in its bankruptcy filing, but the company did say that they had to file bankruptcy after the writer’s strike crippled their business. Journey was the last film they worked on before closing in March.
So how does all this impact star Brendan Fraser? Well, he’s been trying to get Meteor’s former 50-50 owners, Evergreen Digital and Discovery Trademark Holding, to cough-up on the owed salaries. "Fraser has been making calls to Evergreen and Discovery, speaking directly to the people responsible and asking them to pay up," said Dave Rand of the Meteor Employees Union. Despite billing itself as an employee friendly company, Discovery doesn’t want any part of this dispute. Katie Wolfgang, vice-president of international communications at Discovery, said "Discovery Communications held a passive non-controlling shareholder interest in Meteor Studios, an independent company incorporated under the Quebec Companies Act. All matters related to the management of Meteor Studios, its employees and operations have been handled directly by Meteor Studios principals since the inception of the company.” Doesn’t sound like Brendan’s phone calls are having much of an impact.
