Friday 11 February 2011

Hollywood Babble On & On #676: Lionsgate Tries Being Lionsgate For A Change

Welcome to the show folks...

After some mixed results trying to become the next major studio and a long and financially bloody battle with Carl Icahn independent producer/distributor Lionsgate have changed tack.... sort of.

Lionsgate's new program is to be more like... well... Lionsgate.

They're trimming the fat, so to speak, by selling off some assets, and launching a new micro-budget initiative to produce low budget comedies and horror films.

I like the micro-budget idea. It's a great way to find and develop new talent, and low budget horror flicks and comedies have long been the company's meat and potatoes, and going back to them exploits a niche for the company that the major studios are more or less ignoring. All I hope is that they don't screw it up like Paramount's Insurge project which went from being a micro-budget talent factory into just another label they can slap onto things like Justin Bieber's concert movie to screw up the accounting even further.

My advice for Lionsgate, recruit new talent, train them to be able to do more with less, and when profits are made, pay folks their fair share, thus ensuring the loyalty of profitable filmmakers who know how to make films without breaking the bank.

1 comment:

  1. jepressman14/2/11 3:38 am

    Lionsgate needs to be wiser regarding opening movie dates. For example, opening The Next Three Days opposite the last Harry Potter film in November 2010 wasn't very astute. It's a good film which could have opened somewhat better.

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