UPDATE: MALONE'S LIBERTY REANIMATES IDT WITH $186M TAKEOVER (AP, REU)

By Stephen Saito

With Liberty Media's $186 million acquisition of IDT, the future is unclear for the fledgling studio's head Chris McGurk, the former COO at MGM.

When McGurk was tapped in April to turn the direct-to-video studio into a cost-effective CG animation and live action movie studio, the future began to seem bright, with one animated film "Everyone's Hero" already lined up for a September release and the company lining up a two year film distribution deal with Fox. The company also owns the "Simpsons" animation studio Film Roman and DVD distributor Anchor Bay. Reuters, who spoke to McGurk in April, had this to say:

IDT aims to have a slate of eight to 12 pictures annually, including some purchased product, within three years, including about a year to pull the parts of the company together, he said.

"We are not going to be in the big tentpole business, the blockbuster business. That is where you can get yourself into trouble," said McGurk. He also focused on smaller films at MGM, producing movies like "Barbershop", as well as at United Artists.

IDT would seek outside financing and will look to new media companies among others, he said. The potential for deals with Internet companies separates the young company from more established studios, he added.

"They don't have the baggage of long-term deals that a lot of other studios have," he said. IDT also will seek to keep net investment in each film lower than the Hollywood average to curb risk.

Now, with Liberty Media's money to back the studio and a cable distribution outlet in Liberty's Starz Entertainment networks, it seems as though IDT has better chance at competing with the Weinstein Co. to become the next Lionsgate, but stay tuned.

UPDATE: Variety's Ben Fritz and Steven Zeitchik report that the deal for IDT came together quickly and was a surprise to insiders. They speculate that McGurk could turn Starz into a mini media conglomerate, saying:

McGurk, who joined the company only two months ago, would be an obvious candidate to take a top position as Starz and IDTE combine their operations. His current title is senior adviser, new ventures, but he was already expected to run IDTE's live-action feature production and distribution operations once he gets them started.