Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.’s latest James Bond film, Die Another Day, is beginning to look like a license to make a killing. MGM said Wednesday the picture will be the most lucrative of 20 films about the British secret agent, adding more than $100 million to the studio’s bottom line. ‘‘It will be the most profitable, by a significant margin,’’ Vice Chairman Chris McGurk said in discussing the Santa Monica company’s fourth-quarter earnings. The Pierce Brosnan-Halle Berry film, which has grossed $382 million worldwide, should eventually gross $425 million and will reap more when released on DVD in June, McGurk said.For a year, MGM lost $142.2 million stemming from red ink off such disappointments as Rollerball, Hart’s War, and Windtalkers. MGM said it expects revenue to increase 3 percent to 5 percent this year to about $1.7 billion and that the company should generate as much as $150 million in cash.Industry analyst Jeffrey Logsdon of Gerard Klauer Mattison said he is encouraged that MGM is trimming its debt, and that its upcoming slate features lower-budget, lower-risk films such as sequels to Legally Blonde and Barbershop. ‘‘Clearly they have some sequels that have some franchise value,’’ Logsdon said. ‘‘I think they’re in the best shape they’ve been in for years.’’ MGM is planning a Legally Blonde TV series with ABC, likely to launch in 2004.(LATWP)
