It looks like Lions Gate Entertainment and Summit Entertainment are all set to merge in a huge, mega money deal. Lionsgate, the folks behind the SAW movies and many others including the upcoming THE HUNGER GAMES, which cost them a whopping $80 million to make, a record for the company, and Summit, whose hottest property is the billion-dollar plus franchise TWILIGHT, are re-entering negotiations after previous talks to merge broke down over ‘control issues.’
Now, I’m not genius when it comes to business, but $80 million on one movie is a huge risk for Lionsgate, but there is huge potential there as there are a number of books that can be turned into movies, and those in the know (the kids), are already saying that THE HUNGER GAMES could be the next TWILIGHT, and Summit sure knocked it out of the park with releasing those flicks.
What I can make of things from this report over at Bloomberg, Lions Gate is around $550 million in debt, while Summit have raised $750 million this year to finance productions, repay debts and pay dividends to investors – plus they have the big pay cheques from the likes of TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN PART ONE, and PART TWO to come in over the coming year. So, thisdeal could add a bit more security for Lionsgate, and have Summit bag themselves another potential huge franchise just before they release the last TWILIGHT flick. It sounds like good news for both to be honest.
Let’s just hope they can strike out a deal.
