Film Production
Lionsgate reports 10.9% revenue growth; TV Production profits quadruple: Q2-2015
BENGALURU: Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation/Incorporated (Lionsgate) reported revenue growth of 10.9 per cent to US$ 552.88 million in Q2-2015 (quarter ended 30 September 2014, current quarter) from US$ 498.73 million in the corresponding quarter of last year (Q2-2014). For HY-2015 (Six month period ended 30 September 2014), Lionsgate revenue fell 6.2 per cent to US$ 1002.26 million from US$ 1068.46 million in HY-2015.
The company’s net income in Q2-2015 after taxes increased 41 times to US$ 20.78 million from US$ 0.51 million in Q2-2014. HY-2015 net income after tax more than quadrupled to US$ 64.04 million as compared to the US$ 14.12 million in HYT-2014.
“We’re pleased that our entire portfolio of businesses contributed to our solid results in the quarter, driven by a particularly strong performance from our television operations,” said Lionsgate chief executive officer Jon Feltheimer. “It was a quarter in which we extended our franchises into new lines of business, continued to assemble a strong pipeline of new properties with great commercial potential and developed online platforms that enhance our ability to deliver our content directly to the consumer.”
Television Production Segment
Revenue from the company’s Television Production segment more than doubled (increased by 140.7 per cent over Q2-2014) in Q2-2015 to US$ 154.85 million from US$ 64.33 million in Q2-2014. HY-2015 revenue from this segment rose 39.4 per cent to US$ 272.32 million from US$ 195.42 million in HY-2014.
Television production segment’s profit more than quadrupled (increased by 352.3 per cent over Q2-2104) to US$ 13.93 million from US$ 3.08 million in Q2-2014. HY-2015 profit increased 27.7 per cent to US$ 27.63 million from US$ 21.63 million in the corresponding six months of the previous year.
Lionsgate attributes the growth to strong gains in both domestic and international television as well as home entertainment revenue from television production.
Fifty-five episodes and 38.5 hours of domestic television series were delivered in the quarter, including episodes of ‘Manhattan’ , ‘Anger Management ‘, ‘Orange is the New Black’ , ‘Houdini’ , ‘Nashville’ and ‘Mad Men’ , compared to 20 episodes and 11.0 hours in the prior year quarter. Strong international sales of ‘Orange is the New Black’, ‘Nashville’ and ‘Anger Management’ were also reported in the quarter, says the company.
Motion Picture Segment
Lionsgate’s major segment – Motion Picture- reported 8.4 per cent drop in revenue to US$ 398.03 million in Q2-2015 from US$ 343.4 million in the year ago quarter. HY-2015 revenue from this segment fell 16.4 per cent to US$ 729.94 million as compared to the US$ 873.04 million in HY-2014.
Motion Picture segment reported a 15.4 per cent drop in profit in Q2-2015 to US$ 57.95 million from US$ 68.81 million in Q2-2014. For HY-2015, profit was up 11.4 per cent at US$ 136.68 million as compared to the US$ 122.65 million during the corresponding period of last year.
Within the Motion Picture segment, theatrical revenue declined to US$ 44.9 million with only two wide theatrical releases in the quarter, ‘The Expendables 3’ and ‘Step Up All In’, compared to a prior year quarter that included two wide releases, continuing revenue from the May 2013 release of ‘Now You See Me’ and the record-setting Spanish-language release ‘Instructions Not Included’ from Pantelion Films reveals the company.
The company reveals further that Lionsgate’s home entertainment revenue for the quarter was US$ 164.4 million compared to US$ 209.9 million in the prior year quarter due to strong performances from the Managed Brands slate and ‘Now You See Me’ in the prior year quarter partially offset by the outstanding home entertainment performance of Divergent in the current quarter. Home entertainment revenue from television production increased in the quarter due to gains in digital media revenue.
Bolstered by the pay television window opening for ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ and the free television window opening for ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ , television revenue included in the Motion Picture segment more than doubled to US$ 69.4 million in the quarter compared to US$ 34.6 million in the prior year quarter.
International Motion Picture segment revenue (excluding Lionsgate U.K.) for the quarter was US$ 75.6 million compared to $US 88.7 million in the prior year quarter with three wide release titles in worldwide release compared to five in the prior year quarter. Lionsgate UK reported revenue of US$ 37.3 million in the quarter increased 38 per cent compared to the prior year quarter.
Lionsgate is a global entertainment company with a diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms and international distribution and sales.
Lionsgate currently has more than 30 television shows on over 20 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as the multiple Emmy Award-winning ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Nurse Jackie’, the comedy ‘Anger Management,’ the broadcast network series ‘Nashville’, the syndication success ‘The Wendy Williams Show’ and the critically-acclaimed hit series ‘Orange is the New Black.’
Its feature film business has been fuelled by such recent successes as the blockbuster first two installments of ‘The Hunger Games’ franchise, ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’, the first installment of the ‘Divergent’ franchise, ‘Now You See Me’, ‘John Wick’ , ‘Warm Bodies’ , ‘The Possession’ , ‘Sinister’ , ‘Roadside Attractions’, ‘A Most Wanted Man’, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films’ ‘Addicted’ and Pantelion Films’ Instructions Not Included , the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the US.
Lionsgate says that it handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company’s core businesses.
Epix is an American hybrid premium cable and satellite television network, and subscription video on demand service that is operated by Studio 3 Partners LLC, a joint venture of Viacom (specifically its subdivision Paramount Pictures), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lions Gate Entertainment. Viacom handles operational support for the channel, including marketing and affiliate services, through its Viacom Media Networks division. The television channel features theatrically released motion pictures, documentaries, concert and comedy specials, and boxing and mixed martial arts matches. TVGN is an American cable and satellite channel that is joint venture between CBS Corporation and Lions Gate Entertainment.
Click here to read the earning release of the company
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.
