"Terminator: Salvation" was considered at the very least to be a box office success, but that hasn't stopped the producers who bought the rights to the movie franchise to file for bankruptcy protection.

Halcyon Holding Group LLC, which does business as The Halcyon Co., along with subsidiary T. Asset Acquisition Co. LLC, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court's Central District of California Aug. 17 claiming assets and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to reorganize its debt as a way to continue business, and is different from a Chapter 7, which is an outright liquidation of assets and typically signals the end of a company.

Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, the two men who own the rights to Terminator, said they were forced to seek out bankruptcy protection because the hedge fund Pacificor which loaned them $9 million to acquire the rights, were blocking producer fees from the most recent movie by placing what they called an 'illegal' lien against Dominion Holdings.

"If it were not for these allegedly illegal liens that compromised Halcyon's liquidity, the company would not have had to file for Chapter 11 protection," Scott Gautier, Halcyon's attorney, said in a statement to The Los Angeles Times.

Among Halcyon's largest unsecured creditors is the law firm of Greenberg Traurig in Santa Monica, Calif., which they say is owed $438,000. In all, of its top 20 unsecured creditors, Halcyon owes $574,000 in legal fees to different firms, making up a vast majority of its unsecured claims.

"But its business is sound and we are confident that it will emerge from the Chapter 11 process intact and able to meet all its legal obligations," Gautier said.

"Terminator: Salvation" hauled in $370 million in worldwide box office, and future films are now in pre-production.