the director's choice for Doctor Octopus. As late as 1995, Internet industry sources such as Baseline Hollywood still listed both Neil Ruttenberg (author of one of the 1990 "Doc Ock" variations submitted to Columbia) and Cameron as co-writers. Carolco also attempted to make Bartholomew vs. Neff, a comedy film that was to have been written and directed by John Hughes and would have starred Sylvester Stallone and John Candy. Decline and collapse Though Carolco made several successful films through the 1990s, including Total Recall, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Basic Instinct, the studio was gradually losing money as the years went on. Carolco mixed blockbusters with small-budget arthouse films which were not profitable. In addition, the studio was criticized for overspending on films through reliance on star power and far-fetched deals (Schwarzenegger received then-unheard-of $10–14 million for his work on Total Recall and Terminator 2; Stallone also had similar treatment). Losses of partnerships also threatened the studio's stability and drove it towards bankruptcy. In 1992, Carolco went under a corporate restructuring, invested in by a partnership of Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera of Italy, Le Studio Canal+ of France, Pioneer, and MGM. Each partner helped infuse up to $60 million into the studio's stock and another $50 million for co-financing deals. MGM also agreed to distribute Carolco products domestically after a previous deal with TriStar expired. In 1993, Carolco was forced to sell its shares in LIVE Entertainment to a group of investors led by Pioneer; it was later renamed Artisan Entertainment, which was bought by Lions Gate Entertainment. Cutbacks at Carolco also forced the studio to make a deal with TriStar over the funding of the Stallone action film Cliffhanger: Carolco would have to sell full distribution rights in North America, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and France to TriStar in exchange for half of the film's budget. Although a major box-office success, Carolco saw little revenue from Cliffhanger since it ended up becoming a minority owner in the film. Before plans to produce their own Spider-Man film with James Cameron fell through, the studio filed a lawsuit against Columbia Pictures and Viacom in an attempt to gain the home video and television rights to Spider-Man, but the suit backfired when Columbia and Viacom counter-sued Carolco, and the studio also became sued by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Since court did not rule in their favor, these lawsuits caused Carolco to lose an additional amount