"Several financial buyers have expressed interest in Terminator, including Platinum Equity, the Beverly Hills firm that owns Delphi, the auto parts maker . Platinum could not be reached for comment.

All the big film studios have also registered interest in the rights, with Sony Pictures a leading contender, according to a person familiar with the situation. Sony declined to comment.

Summit Entertainment, the company behind the Twilight series, is tracking the sale, as is Media Rights Capital, which produced Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno , the person added.

The rights are being sold by Halcyon, the production company behind Terminator Salvation , the latest instalment in the series, which grossed $380m worldwide. The auction does not cover earlier Terminator films.

The rights will give the buyer the ability to make new Terminator films, TV programmes and other spin-offs that build on the popularity of the franchise.

The sale is being conducted by FTI Capital Advisors, recently appointed by Halcyon when it sought bankruptcy protection. Halcyon filed for Chapter 11 after a dispute with Pacificor, a Santa Barbara-based hedge fund that lent Halcyon funds to buy the Terminator rights.

The rights to the franchise have changed hands many times and were sold to Halcyon for $25m two years ago by Mario Kassar, who produced Terminator 2: Judgement Day." (Source: The Financial Times)