{"id":625218,"date":"2026-08-07T11:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T11:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/625218\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T11:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T11:02:25","slug":"michael-helps-lionsgate-posts-sharply-higher-first-quarter-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/625218\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Michael’ Helps Lionsgate Posts Sharply Higher First Quarter Revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLionsgate<\/a> released its latest financial results on Thursday with sharply higher overall revenues and a narrowed loss in a first quarter lifted by\u00a0Antoine Fuqua\u2019s Michael global box office.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe studio, led by CEO Jon Feltheimer, posted a first quarter net loss attributable to shareholders at $28.8 million, compared to a year-earlier $109 million loss, on overall revenue rising 48 percent to $776.6 million, against a year-earlier $526 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat revenue line blew past a Wall Street forecast for $693.1 million in overall revenue. The Michael Jackson biopic has to date brought in $1.013 billion in global box office after the studio tapped Universal to handle the Antoine Fuqua\u2019s movie overseas.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Michael and Hunger Games studio became a standalone company after splitting from the Starz premium cable and streaming service. Lionsgate also saw its adjusted OIBDA come to $79.3 million, beating an analyst forecast for $65.5 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the latest quarter, the company\u2019s studios business saw its motion picture revenue jump to $587.3 million, against a year-earlier $267.3 million, with box office from Michael and strong ancillary business with The Housemaid providing a lift. Michael becoming the highest-grossing biopic of all time and highest-grossing Lionsgate title ever worldwide helped drive the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group segment profit to $105 million, the best first quarter ever\u00a0for the studio.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate\u2019s Motion Picture Group, on an after-market analyst call discussed the timing for a Michael Part 2 production and release. \u201cWhile we are not ready to announce everything at the moment, I would tell you that we are targeting a production start towards the end of this year and early next, and think that somewhere between the end of calendar 27 and the first half of calendar 28 would be a current thought of roughly where the movie could go,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\n\tFogelson said some dance sequences earlier shot will make it into the second Michael film, \u201cbut we are mostly focused right now on how to make sure we can deliver at the right price the biggest, best sequel.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe film group performance helped offset television production revenue dropping to $189.3 million during the first quarter,\u00a0against a year-earlier $288.5 million, due to the timing of episodic deliveries. The studio is projecting full-year 2027 TV revenue and profits to grow on a near doubling of scripted series deliveries, compared to the prior year, and the recent licensing of four\u00a0Power\u00a0series to Netflix. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m pleased to report another quarter of strong financial results and growing momentum across our business,\u201d Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in a statement that accompanied his first quarter results. \u201cAs we continue to execute our franchise strategy across a deep portfolio of branded intellectual properties, generate increased visibility and stability from our film and television library, and benefit from continued improvement in our operating environment, we are positioned to deliver strong growth in fiscal 2027 and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring an after-market analyst call, Feltheimer focused on Lionsgate\u2019s deep bench strength in movie titles, especially with sequels and revivals. The stuidio has upcoming releases for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest in the Hunger Games franchise; Mel Gibson\u2019s epic, two-part\u00a0Resurrection of the Christ\u00a0to premiere in September; John Rambo,\u00a0directed by Jalmari Helander and starring Noah Centineo as the studio aims for a film and TV franchise potential as it brings back the classic Rambo property; and Lionsgate have just completed production on\u00a0Caine, with Donnie Yen directing and starring in a movie that expands the John Wick universe. <\/p>\n

\n\tOn the roll-out of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping in the studio\u2019s third quarter financial period, Fogelson said the latest franchise release, with its strong cast and in-built audience, \u201cis one of the best testing movies that we\u2019ve ever had at the studio. So we think we have all of the tools necessary to deliver an incredible result.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tGiven the current Hollywood box office rebound, Feltheimer predicted domestic multiplex ticket sales was \u201cheading for its first $10 billion year since before the pandemic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the TV side, Feltheimer said an evolving strategy was casting a wide net for buyers as new ones emerge in an increasingly disrupted industry landscape. \u201cThe name of the game in TV used to be deep relationships with a handful of major buyers: first the broadcast networks, then the leading cable platforms and more recently the streamers. But today there are many new\u00a0players\u00a0throughout the television ecosystem, and our strategy is focused on diversification: having the creative strengths, pricing flexibility and innovative business models to play across a wide range of different platforms and different types of series in an increasingly fragmented world,\u201d he told analysts in prepared remarks. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn the search for new buyers, Lionsgate landed Amazon to acquire\u00a0Friends\u00a0co-creator Marta Kauffman\u2019s improvisational comedy\u00a0DINKS\u00a0via a partnership with\u00a0media giant Publicis Groupe, and has a pickup of the medical action thriller\u00a0Trauma\u00a0by Prime Video in the U.K. and Paramount+ in the U.S. and the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe sale of Trauma to Paramount+ also comes as Lionsgate has managed to sell a series to a Hollywood studio in Paramount in limbo until it looks to close its megadeal with Warner Bros. Discovery with hurdles standing in its way. \u201cUncertainty is the worst thing for our business, and uncertainty and delay is not good for anybody,\u201d Feltheimer argued, as his studio still looks ahead to a merged Paramount-WBD entity to possibly jointly invest in premium content and do a possible movie slate deal together. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat would be good for us and that would be good for the industry. And I would say, overall, the more movies that are in the marketplace, while it\u2019s competitive, it\u2019s good as you know the rising tide moves all boats up,\u201d Feltheimer added. <\/p>\n

\n\tMichael Burns, Lionsgate vice-chairman, discussed possible mergers and acquisition activity amid industry consolidation. \u201cIn spite of what the headline suggests, we haven\u2019t engaged in any substantive conversations. What I will say is this gives us strength and the breadth of our IP and our franchises, and we remain one of the most compelling assets in a rapidly consolidating marketplace,\u201d he added as Lionsgate as a standalone studio after having separated from Starz now has \u201cstrategic optionality\u201d for possible dealmaking. <\/p>\n

\n\tFeltheimer also talked about the introduction of artificial intelligence tools across the studio. \u201cThere are just some tremendous use cases right now that we\u2019re playing with, and a year from now it\u2019s going to be a whole different world there. But I can tell you, it\u2019s saving us money now. It\u2019s making us more efficient across the board,\u201d he argued. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionsgate released its latest financial results on Thursday with sharply higher overall revenues and a narrowed loss in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,18,117,19,17,6085],"class_list":["post-625218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lionsgate"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117053892009386173","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}