Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer voiced support for the stalled Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which is headed to an antitrust trial to begin in March 2027.
While Lionsgate competes with Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. in some areas, including theatrically released movies, Lionsgate also sees both as customers (or potential customers) in other areas. Ultimately, having the Paramount-WBD close as soon as possible is the ideal outcome, according to Feltheimer, speaking on Lionsgate’s quarterly earnings call Thursday.
“Uncertainty is the worst thing for our business, and uncertainty and delay is not good for anybody,” Feltheimer said. “We know David Ellison well. We did his first series, ‘Manhattan,’ some years ago. I can tell you that I was super impressed with him. He loves content.”
The Lionsgate chief continued, “I have no reason not to believe that he will be investing very heavily in content, whether it’s a 30-film slate or whether it’s at a bolstered Paramount+, I would say for us… a better-financed streamer, a competitive streamer, will be better for us, better for us in terms of original programming, better for us in terms of selling library. And so that part of it, I think, is a real positive for us.”
Feltheimer said Lionsgate has “already sold [Paramount] a new television show,” without providing details.
“We hadn’t been doing that much with Paramount. We hadn’t been doing that much with HBO,” he told analysts. “So I’m already seeing signs of it. I’m already talking to them about potentially co-financing feature films. That would be good for us, and that would be good for the industry. And I would say, overall, the more movies that are in the marketplace, while it’s competitive, it’s good as the rising tide moves all boats up. And so I guess I would say I’m in favour of this transaction, but most importantly, I’m in favour of certainty and getting all of the delay out of it.”
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For now, the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal remains frozen after 12 Democratic state attorneys general and the WGA sued to block the merger. Unless there’s a settlement in the case, the merger will not close until after the March 2027 trial or June 1, 2027 (whichever is earlier). Separately, on Thursday, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority cleared the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, the last major regulatory approval that was needed to move it toward closing.
Lionsgate saw overall revenue jump 48% for the June quarter, and its movie segment posted income of $105 million for the period. That was driven by Michael Jackson biopic “Michael,” which is the studio’s biggest movie at the box office to date and the first biopic to top $1 billion in theatrical release. The company is working on a “Michael” sequel, expected to be out in late 2027 or early ’28. Lionsgate’s net loss attributable to shareholders was $28.8 million, an improvement over a net loss of $94 million a year earlier, as its television division posted a decline in revenue and profit.
From Variety US