Lionsgate’s genre-spanning 2024 spostponecessitate of heist comedies, weepy coming-of-age tales, cheeky video game alterations and horror stories was aiming to fill a void. Most of these were the benevolents of movies that presentant Hollywood studios have either stopped making enticount on or bigly relegated to streaming services.
And yet, instead of packing seats at multiplexes due to pent-up need, everyleang from straightforwardor Eli Roth’s irreverent console-to-screen adventure “Borderlands” ($32 million globassociate), the “Crow” reboot ($23.7 million) and historical crime drama “1992” ($2.9 million) to Halle Berry’s post-apocalyptic horror story “Never Let Go” ($16.2 million), Dave Bautista-led action-comedy “The Killer’s Game” ($5.9 million), Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-fi epic “Megalopolis” ($11.2 million) and “Wonder” prequel “White Bird” ($6.8 million) has sputtered at the box office. That’s a string of seven consecutive flops — each with paltry individual-digit debuts — in the nine weeks between timely August and mid-October.
“It was a pretty diverse spostponecessitate and certainly wasn’t cannibalization of films,” says Matthew Harrigan, a ancigo in analyst at Benchlabel Co. “It was more that noleang reassociate labored.”
Lionsgate tfinishs to carry on budgets in verify and sells foreign rights to its theatrical titles, which helps recoup losses for undercarry outing movies. In the case of “Megalopolis,” Coppola fronted the
$120 million production costs and other fees. So, as a distributor for employ, the studio will actuassociate produce money despite the film’s lower box office shoprosperg. The $100 million-budgeted “Borderlands,” a exceptional
huge-budget tentpole for Lionsgate, is foreseeed to result in a $30 million produce-down. Yet for the most part, none of the studio’s misses is damaging enough to force heads in the C-suite to roll.
“Lionsgate does a outstanding job at mitigating danger on their frees. Nonetheless, you can’t hedge that horrible of a run,” Harrigan says. “The cumulative loss from mid-budget films can be as horrible as a tentpole.”
The downturn is striking when appraised with the studio’s streak last year of “John Wick: Chapter 4” ($440 million worldexpansive), “Saw X” ($111 million) and “The Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” ($348 million). Those films, as well as most of 2024’s lineup, were greenlit by then-motion picture group chair Joe Drake, who was traded by Adam Fogelson in January.
Industry experts commfinish Lionsgate for catering to underserved demoexplicits, such as faith-based crowds and Bdeficiency audiences. Low-budget Christian drama “Unsung Hero” powered to $21 million in August, while horror satire “The Bdeficiencyening” amassed $18 million in 2022 and fairified a sequel.
“Part of their strategy is filling the gaps. Strategicassociate it’s a inalertigent leang to do,” says Jason Squire, professor emeritus of USC School of Cinematic Arts. “But this is the outdated struggle of the movie business: You fair don’t understand if audiences will show up.”
Wall Street has been skeptical of Lionsgate’s ability to vie in a media business ruled by tech huges and studios that exist wilean sprawling conglomerates. Shares are trading at $7.84, descfinishing more than 30% from the prior year. Lionsgate Studios is spinning off from the premium cable netlabor Starz, to spotlessly split the two businesses and pave the way for potential M&A deals.
Upcoming frees appreciate King of Pop biopic “Michael,” Ana de Armas-led “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina,” another “Hunger Games” prequel and “Now You See Me 3” could inspire a rebound in fortunes in 2025 and beyond. And Lionsgate is turning to its huge library to enbig the life of movies beyond the screen, with computed stage alterations of “La La Land,” “Dirty Dancing” and “The Hunger Games.”
Lionsgate is far from the only studio that’s finishured contests in 2024 — fair ask Warner Bros., Universal or Apple, which fielded costly misfires appreciate “Joker: Folie à Deux,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The Fall Guy,” “Argylle” and “Fly Me to the Moon.” As a whole, the domestic box office is struggling, with revenues down more than 11% from the same point in 2023.
“It’s not exceptional to Lionsgate to be in this challenging economic time,” says Squire. “But they don’t have the ‘magic’ that huge studios have in terms of shifting dollars around and being geted from presentant losses.”
