Dani GassnerLionsgate released its first quarter financial results after the spinoff of the media giant’s studio business into a separately traded stock.
The studio, led by CEO Jon Feltheimer, posted a first quarter net loss attributable to shareholders at $59.4 million, compared to a year-earlier $70.7 million loss, on overall revenue falling to $834.7 million, against a year-earlier $908.6 million.
“We’re pleased to report a solid quarter despite unprecedented industry disruption and the aftereffects of the strikes,” Feltheimer said in a statement that accompanied his company’s latest financial results. Later during an after-market analyst call, he cited efforts by Lionsgate to mitigate the impact of industry-wide headwinds.
“There are things in our environment over which we have little control: the impact of disruption on our buyers & distributors, market volatility and the long tail of the strikes and the pandemic,” Feltheimer argued.
At the same time, he pointed to separating the studio business from Starz, forging a theatrical release slate driven by three to four tentpoles a year starting in fiscal 2026 (which includes adapting Suzanne Collins’s next Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping), building out a TV production slate led by Spartacus: House of Ashur and The Hunting Wives for Starz and Seth Rogen’s The Studio for Apple TV+, cutting operating costs and launching new free, ad-supported streaming channels.
