Film Production
Lionsgate invests in game developer Telltale Games
MUMBAI: As part of the continued diversification of its content business and recent entry into the game space, Lionsgate has made a significant investment in leading game developer and publisher Telltale Games.
As part of its investment, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer will also join the Telltale Board of Directors.
The investment will continue the extension of Lionsgate’s film and television brands into the game space and will bring Lionsgate’s expertise in creating and marketing premium content to Telltale’s unique narrative-driven, storytelling approach to gaming. The collaboration will also enable the two companies to explore opportunities to co-develop existing and original IP into episodic games and television.
Telltale has emerged as an industry leader in narrative-driven episodic games with the blockbuster hit The Walking Dead, which has sold 8.5 million copies and topped sales charts on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam, as well as the hit Game of Thrones, based on the smash television series, The Wolf Among Us, the episodic interactive graphic adventure video game based on Bill Willingham’s Fables comic book, and Tales from the Borderlands, Telltale’s adaptation of the acclaimed PC, Mac and console video game title from Gearbox Software and 2K Games.
“Telltale is one of the premier storytellers in the gaming world today. Their leadership in narrative-driven episodic games, together with our investment and the potential opportunities created by our premium content expertise, will continue to strengthen their ability to offer exciting new avenues of storytelling to their next generation audiences across a broad range of platforms,” said Feltheimer.
“Lionsgate is one of the most innovative, entrepreneurial and impressive content companies in the world today. I’m delighted to welcome an experienced executive like Jon, a leader who shares our unique vision, to our Board. Lionsgate has a great track record in developing and marketing feature films as well as platform-defining premium scripted television. This partnership will accelerate Telltale’s ability to create not only original games, but episodic television series based on our game properties – an area at the cutting edge of industry growth,” added Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner.
“Our partnership with Kevin Bruner and his team at Telltale continues to accelerate our momentum in the game space. The convergence between premium filmed entertainment brands and original game properties is a natural direction in which to continue diversifying our content business, and Telltale is the perfect partner with whom to explore this dynamic area of growth,” said Lionsgate president of interactive ventures & games Peter Levin.
Film Production
Disney to cut 1,000 jobs under new chief executive
The entertainment giant’s freshly installed boss inherits a restructuring already in motion, with marketing and corporate roles bearing the brunt
CALIFORNIA: Walt Disney is preparing to slash up to 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the entertainment giant’s freshly installed chief executive moves swiftly to trim fat and tighten the ship.
The cuts, less than 1 per cent of Disney’s global workforce of 231,000, will fall hardest on marketing and corporate roles. The planning, notably, began before D’Amaro formally took the top job in March, suggesting the new boss inherited a restructuring already in motion rather than one of his own making.
Driving the push is Asad Ayaz, Disney’s newly appointed chief marketing officer, who in January assumed command of a unified, company-wide marketing operation spanning film, television and streaming. His consolidation drive has been given a suitably cinematic internal name: Project Imagine.
The move is modest by Disney’s recent standards. Between 2023 and 2025, under former chief executive Bob Iger, the company eliminated roughly 8,000 positions across several brutal rounds of cuts, saving $7.5 billion, comfortably exceeding its own targets. As recently as June 2025, several hundred more jobs were axed across Disney Entertainment, hitting film and television marketing, publicity, casting, development and corporate finance.
Disney’s structural headaches are well-documented: shrinking streaming margins, a weakened box office, and fierce competition from Amazon and YouTube gnawing at its flanks. The company is merging its Disney+ and Hulu teams into a single app, has brought in consultants from Bain & Co to guide its broader cost strategy, and is betting heavily on digital growth.
The wider entertainment industry offers little comfort. Sony Pictures, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have all taken the knife to their workforces in recent years, and further cuts loom if Paramount’s acquisition of Warner goes through.
For D’Amaro, the message is clear: there will be no honeymoon period. The magic kingdom still has some cost-cutting spells left to cast.
