Carolco Pictures Reports It Lost $265 Million Last Year

Carolco Pictures Inc., despite the box office success of its “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” announced Friday that it lost $265.1 million in 1991.

Carolco’s loss for the year ended Dec. 31 amounted to a net loss per share of $9.44. Carolco had posted net income of $17.3 million, or 49 cents a share, for the preceding year.

The Los Angeles-based company’s prepared statement said that it lost $75.6 million on its lineup of feature films because the costs of producing and marketing them outstripped box office receipts. The losses came despite “Terminator 2,” which Carolco said returned $93.5 million in revenue.

Carolco attributed another $88.4 million of the 1991 loss to costs associated with the financial restructuring that it announced in March. The company did not report its results for the fourth quarter, which also ended Dec. 31.

The restructuring announced last month required Carolco to immediately begin downsizing its staff and other overhead and to significantly reduce in 1992 its outstanding debts to Credit Lyonnais, Bank Nederland, Bankers Trust Co. and Chemical Bank. Carolco also pledged as collateral its 53% stake in Live Entertainment Inc., a Van Nuys-based distributor of videocassettes.

In its statement on Friday, Carolco said it has “refocused its strategy to its core business of producing two to three event motion pictures per year and has taken the necessary write-downs consistent with this business strategy.” The company’s most popular film so far this year is “Basic Instinct,” now in theaters.

Carolco said its 1991 loss was attributable to other factors as well, including a “share of losses totaling $48.1 million” caused by Live Entertainment’s “disposition” of a subsidiary. It said a $37.6-million loss resulted from “write-downs of development projects, estimated future values of unsold foreign television rights and losses recognized on certain television products and legal fees.”