UPDATED: Sundance Heats Up
After a slow start to the 35th annual Sundance Film Festival, the weekend produced a handful of sizable deals, including from Amazon Studios, Searchlight Pictures, and Lionsgate.
Lionsgate
Apple Considers MGM Buyout
After the abysmal start to Apple’s new streaming service, Apple TV+, the tech company is searching for relevance with a new leader and a possible strategic acquisition.
Production Battle of Britain
There is a mad rush by the most significant content creators, especially streaming services, to utilize the production infrastructure in England as a base of European operations.
Lionsgate Considers Separation
Lionsgate is said to be in talks to split its film and television production business from its recently acquired premium-channel Starz into separate companies.
Netflix at the Movies
After a decade of primarily focusing on episodic content, Netflix wants to break the theatrical glass ceiling, especially since they are funding more original films.
Apple Goes Theatrical
Apple wants to carve out exclusive theatrical windows for exhibitors to screen some of its forthcoming feature films before streaming on Apple TV+.
Buyer Beware
Buyers at TIFF are skittish after a 6% drop in North American box office receipts in 2019. Worse still, is the dire year indie films are having, where receipts have declined 45%.
Lionsgate Films Are Disney Bound
Starting in 2020, films released by Lionsgate will be distributed on the Hulu streaming service, and FX, the basic-cable channel now owned by Disney after the takeover of Fox.
The Starz Farce
The timing of the anonymous leak that CBS was prepared to pay Lionsgate $5 billion for Starz, raises serious questions about possible market manipulation.
Rocky Media Marriage
The uneasy marriage between Lionsgate and Starz has been a rocky one from the start. The biggest clash relates to Lionsgate’s television division.