Fiction
Lionsgate appoints Amit Dhanuka to grow Starz Brands in India
MUMBAI: Lionsgate India has expanded its India team with the appointment of Amit Dhanuka as executive VP, who joins the company’s Mumbai-based office to develop its strategy for the Lionsgate and Starz brands and build its local operations.
Dhanuka will report to Lionsgate India managing director Rohit Jain and work closely with the company’s creative head Maitreyee Dasgupta.
Dhanuka was previously with Fox’s Star India network where he led its direct to home affiliate sales division. He has also worked with Indian film production companies E-City Films and Zee Motion Pictures in addition to Sony Pictures Television International in Los Angeles.
Speaking on his appointment, Rohit Jain says, “Amit is a very experienced content production and distribution executive and a skilled business strategist. His wealth of knowledge and acumen will further strengthen our Lionsgate India team and enable us to continue to expand our Lionsgate and Starz brands locally.”
Amit Dhanuka mentions that he was looking forward to bringing Indian audiences original, premium and bold content that aligns with Lionsgate and Starz’s mission of creating content that cuts through the clutter.
Even before opening its Mumbai office last year, Lionsgate co-produced with Endemol India a 2015 Bollywood remake of the Tom Hardy-starrer Warrior, titled Brothers, which starred top actor Akshay Kumar in the lead role.
More recently, Lionsgate announced it would produce Indian versions of Mexican comedy Instructions Not Included and South Korean action thriller The Terror Live in partnership with Globalgate and Indian banner Azure Entertainment.
Globalgate is a joint consortium of Lionsgate and 10 other leading international content companies which include Germany’s Tobis, France’s Gaumont, Brazil’s Paris Filmes and Colombia’s Cine Colombia, among others.
The first major new studio in decades, Lionsgate is a global content platform whose films, television series, digital products and linear and over-the-top platforms reach next generation audiences around the world. In addition to its filmed entertainment leadership, Lionsgate content drives a growing presence in interactive and location-based entertainment, gaming, virtual reality and other new entertainment technologies.
Lionsgate’s content initiatives are backed by a 16,000-title film and television library and delivered through a global licensing infrastructure.
Fiction
Banijay merges with All3Media in $6.65 billion deal
Marco Bassetti will lead the combined company as CEO
PARIS: Six years after acquiring Endemol Shine at the height of the pandemic, Banijay has struck again. The European production heavyweight is merging with All3Media in a deal that will create a television titan with $6.65 billion in revenue and redraw the contours of a fast-consolidating market.
The combined company will trade under the Banijay name and be owned 50 per cent each by Banijay Group and RedBird IMI, which acquired All3Media in 2024. The transaction is expected to close by autumn, subject to regulatory approvals.
Banijay Entertainment CEO Marco Bassetti, will take the top job at the enlarged group. All3Media CEO Jane Turton becomes deputy CEO. RedBird IMI CEO Jeff Zucker will serve as chairman.
The logic is scale. Broadcasters are commissioning less, streamers are tightening budgets and global buyers are fewer but bigger. Against that backdrop, heft matters. The merged entity will generate roughly $6.65 billion in revenues based on 2024 figures, giving it sharper elbows in rights negotiations and deeper pockets for franchise-building.
“Entrepreneurialism, ambition and creativity” remain core to Banijay’s DNA, Bassetti said, flagging plans to invest more heavily in new intellectual property, live events and emerging platforms. Turton struck a similarly bullish note, pointing to All3Media’s journey from a 2003 start-up to a global supplier of hit formats and high-end drama.
Between them, the two groups control a formidable slate. Banijay’s catalogue spans MasterChef, Big Brother, Survivor, Black Mirror, Peaky Blinders and Deal or No Deal. All3Media’s labels include Studio Lambert, producer of The Traitors and Squid Game: The Challenge; Two Brothers, behind The Tourist; and Neal Street, currently producing the forthcoming Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes for Sony.
The back catalogue is equally muscular. Banijay Rights holds some 220,000 hours, while All3Media International adds around 35,000 hours, forming one of the industry’s largest libraries.
Banijay, controlled by French entrepreneur Stéphane Courbit and listed in Amsterdam, counts more than 130 production companies across 25 territories. All3Media operates over 40 labels, with strong positions in the UK, US and Germany. The enlarged group will also lean into live entertainment, building on Banijay’s Balich Wonder Studio, which produced the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and the Independents.
The deal marks a shift in tone. As recently as October, Bassetti suggested that mergers and acquisitions were not a priority. But the drumbeat of consolidation has grown louder. Mediawan has moved for Peter Chernin’s North Road. David Ellison’s Paramount has agreed to a $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros, with plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount plus. ITV has explored selling its media and entertainment arm to Comcast-owned Sky, though talks have reportedly slowed.
