International
Summit, Lionsgate resume merger talks
MUMBAI: Two of Hollywood‘s biggest independent producer/distributors Summit Entertainment and Summit Entertainment have resumed talks about a merger.
The two film distributors have had several merger talks in the past but things didn‘t proceed as issues of how much each was worth and who would end up in charge of the combined company could not be worked out.
While both of them are among the strongest independent film distributors who compete with major studios like NBC Universal, Warner Bros. and Disney, the two companies differ on many issues.
Summit, which is privately held, has been in the domestic distribution business since 2007, when former Warner Bros. and Paramount executive Rob Friedman joined the company.
Summit has had a mixed record with its movies except for the Twilight franchise, which produced more than $1 billion in box office sales even before the current release. Part 2 of Breaking Dawn is scheduled for release in November 2012.
Lionsgate is a publicly traded company based in Vancouver with offices in Santa Monica, California. While it is active in movies, including The Expendables and a series of Tyler Perry films, it has also had considerable success in television.
Lionsgate also has a much larger film library than Summit, with about 13,000 film and TV titles that have helped it achieve about 8 per cent of the domestic home entertainment market.
