Lions Gate Entertainment
Encyclopedia
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (commonly referred to as Lionsgate) is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

. As of 2011, it is the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America.

History

Lionsgate was founded in 1997 by Frank Giustra
Frank Giustra
Frank Giustra is a Canadian business executive, who has been particularly successful in the mining and filmmaking industries, and is a noted philanthropist.-Early life:...

, a Canadian investment banker hoping to capitalize on the growing film industry in his home town. The company bought a number of small production facilities and distributors, including Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

-based Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) also known as Cinéxus-Famous Players Distribution, Trimark Pictures, Mandate Pictures
Mandate Pictures
Mandate Pictures was originally an independent film entertainment studio, founded in 2003. Today, Mandate Pictures is a full-service production and financing company, acquired by Lionsgate in 2007. Mandate continues to operate as an independent brand delivering commercial and independent films...

 and, most notably, Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...

 (which itself had formerly been LIVE Entertainment, and before that, Vestron Pictures
Vestron Pictures
Vestron Pictures was a film studio and distributor of the late 1980s, and a division of Austin O. Furst, Jr.'s Vestron Inc., best known for their 1987 release of Dirty Dancing. The company was a spin-off of the earlier video distributor, Vestron Video. Vestron also had a genre film division,...

).

They had sold off their Canadian distribution rights to Maple Pictures
Maple pictures
Maple Pictures Corporation is the distribution arm of Alliance Films. It was formed on April 25, 2005 when Lions Gate Entertainment demerged to two companies -- Lions Gate Entertainment and Maple Pictures...

, founded and co-owned by two former Lionsgate executives, Brad Pelman and Laurie May. Recently, Lionsgate sold their subsidiary Maple Pictures to film distributor Alliance Films, which is based in Montreal, Canada.

Its first major box office success was American Psycho
American Psycho (film)
American Psycho is a 2000 cult thriller film directed by Mary Harron based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the same name. Though predominantly a psycho thriller, the film also blends elements of horror, satire, and black comedy...

in 2000, which began a trend of producing and distributing films too controversial for the major American studios. Other notable films included Affliction
Affliction (film)
Affliction is an US-American drama film produced in 1997, written and directed by Paul Schrader from the novel by Russell Banks. It stars Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn and Willem Dafoe....

, Gods and Monsters
Gods and Monsters
Gods and Monsters is a 1998 drama film that recounts the last days of the life of troubled film director James Whale, whose homosexuality is a central theme. It stars Ian McKellen as Whale, along with Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, Lolita Davidovich, and David Dukes...

, Dogma
Dogma (film)
Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...

, Saw and the Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...

 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film by American filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the news media...

, which became the studio's highest grossing film.

Lionsgate had played a significant role in the co-financing and co-partnership with Relativity Media
Relativity Media
Relativity Media is an American independent motion picture production and investment company based in West Hollywood, California.- Company :...

 on its films until 2010 when the latter company split from its deal with Lionsgate to form its own self-distribution unit.

In 2006, Lionsgate acquired the American television production and syndication company Debmar-Mercury
Debmar-Mercury
Debmar-Mercury is a television syndication company that is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment, which acquired the company in July 2006...

. This studio is recognized for its role in a number of daytime TV programs.

In 2007, Lionsgate bought a partial stake in independent film distribution company Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions is a US film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded in 2003, specializing largely in independent films.Lionsgate bought a partial stake in Roadside in 2007.-List of films released by Roadside Attractions:...

.

Lionsgate, along with MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 and Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

/Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...

, is also a co-owner of Epix
Epix (TV network)
Epix is an American premium television channel that is operated by Studio 3 Partners—a joint venture among Viacom , MGM, and Lionsgate. Viacom handles operational support, including marketing and affiliate services for the service through its MTV Networks division.Epix offers a companion video on...

, a new pay TV movie channel which debuted on October 30, 2009 on Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS
Verizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...

 IPTV systems, that will rival HBO and Showtime. Lionsgate also stated they would be starting work in music albums.

The distribution of selected recent non-in-house films for pay-per-view and on-demand are under the supervision of NBCUniversal Television Distribution under Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 (Universal formally held home video and television rights to many of the early Lionsgate films), while all others (particularly the in-house films) are distributed for both cable and broadcast television through Lionsgate's syndicated division.

Lionsgate's library of movies and TV shows can be seen on digital platform Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

.

Confusion with Robert Altman's company

Contrary to some assumptions, Lionsgate has no relation to the now-defunct, Los Angeles-based studio and production company run by filmmaker Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...

 in the 1970s, which the director called Lion's Gate Films. However, both companies take their name from the same landmark: the entrance to Greater Vancouver's harbour, the Lion's Gate, and the famed Lions Gate Bridge that spans it. The view from the bridge includes the distant Lions
The Lions (Peaks)
The Lions are a pair of pointed peaks along the North Shore Mountains in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They can be seen from much of the Greater Vancouver area, as far as Robert Burnaby Park in East Burnaby, south to parts of Surrey, and from the west on the Howe Sound Islands and the...

, a pair of mountain peaks north of Vancouver, where Altman shot his 1969 feature, That Cold Day in the Park
That Cold Day in the Park
That Cold Day in the Park is a 1969 film directed by Robert Altman, shot in Vancouver, Canada. It stars Sandy Dennis and Michael Burns. It is based on the novel of the same name by Peter Miles. It was adapted to screen by Gillian Freeman...

.

Film distributor history

  • UK
    • Momentum Pictures
      Momentum Pictures
      Momentum Pictures , an Alliance Films company, is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year, with several stv releases....

       (2000–present)
    • Lions Gate UK (2006–present)

  • France
    • Metropolitan Filmexport
      Samuel Hadida
      Samuel Hadida, born December 17, 1953, in Casablanca, Morocco, is a film producer.Hadida studied in Paris. In 1978, Hadida co-founded the company Metropolitan Filmexport with his brother Victor. The company later became a successful independent distributor of films in the French-speaking world...

       (2005–present)

  • Australia/New Zealand
    • Hoyts
      Hoyts
      The Hoyts Group is an Australian company consisting of Hoyts Exhibition, Hoyts Distribution and Val Morgan.Hoyts Exhibition manages 450 screens across 40 Australian and 10 New Zealand cinema complexes; making it Australia's second largest cinema chain. Val Morgan, the cinema advertising arm of the...

        (2000–2009)
    • Village Roadshow Limited
      Village Roadshow Limited
      Village Roadshow Limited is an Australian media company with interests in cinema, theme parks, film production and distribution. The company is a publicly listed entity on the Australian Securities Exchange...

       (2009–present)

  • Canada
    • Maple Pictures
      Maple pictures
      Maple Pictures Corporation is the distribution arm of Alliance Films. It was formed on April 25, 2005 when Lions Gate Entertainment demerged to two companies -- Lions Gate Entertainment and Maple Pictures...

       (2005–2011)
    • Alliance Films
      Alliance Films
      Alliance Films is a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain.-History:It was formed in 1984 by Stephen Roth, Denis Heroux, John Kemeny, Robert Lantos and Jay...

       (2011-present)


Films

Aside from home video distribution of films sub-licensed from other studios, Lionsgate's library consists of films from the respective companies Lionsgate succeeded-in-interest, such as Producers Sales Organization
Producers Sales Organization
Producers Sales Organization was an independent production/distribution company founded in 1977.Inititated by Mark Damon, an actor-turned-producer, PSO largely handled foreign sales of independent films...

, Vestron Pictures
Vestron Pictures
Vestron Pictures was a film studio and distributor of the late 1980s, and a division of Austin O. Furst, Jr.'s Vestron Inc., best known for their 1987 release of Dirty Dancing. The company was a spin-off of the earlier video distributor, Vestron Video. Vestron also had a genre film division,...

, and Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...

, in addition to their in-house material. Their complete ownership depends on the worldwide regions of license.

Television

Lionsgate Television
Lionsgate Television
Lionsgate Television is the television division of Lions Gate Entertainment, an entertainment company. It is located in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.- Productions :The following is a partial list of the division's productions:...

 produced such series as The Dead Zone
The Dead Zone (TV series)
The Dead Zone, aka Stephen King's Dead Zone is an American-Canadian science fiction/suspense series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma...

, Five Days to Midnight, Weeds
Weeds (TV series)
Weeds is an American television comedy created by Jenji Kohan and produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television. The central character is Nancy Botwin , a widowed mother of two boys who begins selling marijuana to support her family after her husband dies suddenly of a...

, Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie
Nurse Jackie is an American series that premiered on June 8, 2009, on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.The series stars Edie Falco as the title character Jackie Peyton, an emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City...

, Tyler Perry's House of Payne
Tyler Perry's House of Payne
Tyler Perry's House of Payne is an American comedy-drama television series created and produced by playwright, director, and producer Tyler Perry. The show revolves around a multi-generational family living under one roof in Atlanta, Georgia led by patriarch Curtis Payne and his wife Ella...

and the Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

-winning Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...

. Lionsgate also recently acquired TV syndication firm Debmar-Mercury
Debmar-Mercury
Debmar-Mercury is a television syndication company that is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment, which acquired the company in July 2006...

 in 2006 with 20th Television
20th Television
20th Television is an American television production and syndication company that was formed in 1992 by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, a division of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation....

 handling ad-sales with the exception for Meet the Browns
Meet the Browns (TV series)
Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns is an American sitcom created and produced by playwright, director, and producer Tyler Perry. The show revolves around a senior family living under one roof in Decatur, Georgia led by patriarch Mr. Brown and his daughter Cora Simmons. The show premiered on Wednesday,...

, as the ad-sales are handled by Disney-ABC Domestic Television and Turner Television co-distributing the series. Lionsgate also owns the TV Guide Network.

Film

The Lions Gate Studios property in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was sold to a private company, Bosa Developments, and is now called North Shore Studios, and no longer have an affiliation with Lionsgate Entertainment. In 2006, the company acquired land in Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Rio Rancho, New Mexico
There were 18,995 households out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.7% were non-families. 20.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had...

 for construction of a new studio facility. The former Lionsgate office located in Toronto is now owned by Maple Pictures
Maple pictures
Maple Pictures Corporation is the distribution arm of Alliance Films. It was formed on April 25, 2005 when Lions Gate Entertainment demerged to two companies -- Lions Gate Entertainment and Maple Pictures...

 (basically the spiritual successor for the original Lions Gate), the distribution arm of Alliance Films
Alliance Films
Alliance Films is a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, which serves Canada, the United Kingdom, and Spain.-History:It was formed in 1984 by Stephen Roth, Denis Heroux, John Kemeny, Robert Lantos and Jay...

, a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, resulting in Lions Gate's demerger into two companies, Lionsgate (the American company formerly known as Artisan) and Maple Pictures (the Canadian company formerly known as Lions Gate).

Video

Lionsgate has a home video library of more than 8000 films with all of the former Artisan Entertainment releases (many the result of output deals with other studios), including such titles as Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach...

, Earth Girls are Easy, Army of One
Joshua Tree (1993 film)
Joshua Tree, also known as Army of One, is a 1993 action film directed by Academy Award and BAFTA-winning stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, written by Steven Pressfield and starring Dolph Lundgren, Kristian Alfonso, and George Segal...

, Total Recall
Total Recall
Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox & Mel Johnson, Jr.. It is based on the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”...

, On Golden Pond
On Golden Pond (1981 film)
On Golden Pond is a 1981 American drama film directed by Mark Rydell. The screenplay by Ernest Thompson was adapted from his 1979 play of the same title. Henry Fonda won the Academy Award in what was his final film role. Co-star Katharine Hepburn also received an Oscar, as did Thompson for his...

, and the Rambo series. Lionsgate also distributes select NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 programs such as Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...

, Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...

and The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....

; Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

's Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....

-branded videos and Clifford the Big Red Dog
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Clifford the Big Red Dog is an American children's book series first published in 1963. Written by Norman Bridwell, the series helped establish Scholastic Books as a premier publishing company....

videos from the Scholastic Corporation and is also the current home video distributor of HiT Entertainment
HIT Entertainment
Hit Entertainment is a British-American entertainment distribution company established in 1989, and originally the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions called Henson International Television...

 titles, including Barney & Friends
Barney & Friends
Barney and Friends, also referred to by HiT Entertainment as Barney the Friendly Dinosaur, is an independent children's television show produced in the United States, aimed at children from ages 1-8...

, Thomas and Friends and Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock
Fraggle Rock is a children's live action puppet television program series created by Jim Henson. The central characters were a set of "Muppet" creatures called Fraggles. The show ran from January 10, 1983, to March 30, 1987, on CBC Television in Canada, ITV in the UK, HBO in the United States,...

.

Video properties currently owned by Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the home video and DVD distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment and most former Artisan Entertainment releases. Its library of more than 8000 films owes some of its size to output deals with other studios...

 include those from Family Home Entertainment
Family Home Entertainment
Family Home Entertainment was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California.-General information:...

, Vestron Video
Vestron Video
Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut that was active from 1982 to 1992. It is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market....

, Lightning Video (a former Vestron company), and Magnum Entertainment.

Music & Music Publishing

Lionsgate posseses its own record label & music publishing company in the form of Lionsgate Music & Publishing.

See also

  • List of Lionsgate films
  • Artisan Entertainment
    Artisan Entertainment
    Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...

  • Maple Pictures
    Maple pictures
    Maple Pictures Corporation is the distribution arm of Alliance Films. It was formed on April 25, 2005 when Lions Gate Entertainment demerged to two companies -- Lions Gate Entertainment and Maple Pictures...


Sources

  • Cook, David A. (2000). Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970–1979 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press). ISBN 0-520-23265-8

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK