Lionsgate & Sony Team for New Multi-Year Home Ent. Pact

[ahegele]

https://deadline.com/2021/02/lionsga...al-1234701848/

Not exactly sure what will change as Lionsgate had a similar deal with Fox before the Disney acquisition but it appears to be a deal that will streamline resources for physical production.

[steve_dave]

Lionsgate made the discs and packaging, Fox handled distribution to outlets. Fox was a silent distributor.

Sony will be doing the same thing.

[DukeTogo84]

Never knew Fox handled Lionsgate's distribution. Now with Sony we are going to get those extra skinny cases with the snap at the end.

[dylrichard02]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Never knew Fox handled Lionsgate's distribution. Now with Sony we are going to get those extra skinny cases with the snap at the end.

At least those don't always have the recycle logo cut out behind the disc. They're still only marginally better.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by dylrichard02

At least those don't always have the recycle logo cut out behind the disc. They're still only marginally better.

Yeah, those are annoying due to all the dust and garbage that will end up getting on the disc. The cases Warner Bros uses is what I like the most.

[HipsterTrash]

Hopefully it's not like Sony's small and small release schedule they have. They only focus on their current releases and get those out 3-5 months after theatrical release. Older films are sporadic and few.

[dylrichard02]

I wonder if this is why the 4Ks and Vestron slowed after the Disney/Fox buyout, now since Sony is here we're getting Dirty Dancing on 4K. Maybe this means more releases are coming.

[steve_dave]

Originally Posted by HipsterTrash

Hopefully it's not like Sony's small and small release schedule they have. They only focus on their current releases and get those out 3-5 months after theatrical release. Older films are sporadic and few.

Originally Posted by dylrichard02

I wonder if this is why the 4Ks and Vestron slowed after the Disney/Fox buyout, now since Sony is here we're getting Dirty Dancing on 4K. Maybe this means more releases are coming.

Fox was handling distribution of Lionsgate’s products to outlets. Fox’s only job was handling distribution. Now Sony will do that.

Nothing visible to consumers will change.

[Herry Dunston]

I kinda wish Sony handled some of the home video rights of Lionsgate, so that there'd be proper subtitles/SDH for bonus features.

[Filmfanatic10]

I don't know how this would affect Lionsgate's distribution deal with Entertainment One in Canada, unless they decided to restart their own Canadian operations a few years back and then shift physical media distribution to Sony in that country.

Besides, this is a very fitting deal for both companies. Sometimes, I was predicting a Sony/Lionsgate tie-up, whether it be a merger/acquisition or just distribution.

[ParamountChris]

Originally Posted by Filmfanatic10

I don't know how this would affect Lionsgate's distribution deal with Entertainment One in Canada, unless they decided to restart their own Canadian operations a few years back and then shift physical media distribution to Sony in that country.

Besides, this is a very fitting deal for both companies. Sometimes, I was predicting a Sony/Lionsgate tie-up, whether it be a merger/acquisition or just distribution.

I think eOne lost a lot of its Lionsgate stuff, quite a few catalogue titles in stores have updated to only refer to as a Lionsgate disc instead of an eOne disc (like select copies of John Wick or La La Land), I don’t know if the disc contents are the same since I am still rocking my eOne copies of Nerve and La La Land.

[MadmanMark]

Originally Posted by ParamountChris

I think eOne lost a lot of its Lionsgate stuff, quite a few catalogue titles in stores have updated to only refer to as a Lionsgate disc instead of an eOne disc (like select copies of John Wick or La La Land), I don’t know if the disc contents are the same since I am still rocking my eOne copies of Nerve and La La Land.

Not to sure of the catalog home video status, but all new Lionsgate titles have gone out theatrically via Mongrel Media in Canada since April. I'm fairly certain this Mongrel deal allowed Lionsgate to retain Digital and Home Entertainment for themselves.

https://playbackonline.ca/2019/04/03...edia-cineplex/

I first noticed that Lionsgate was self distributing their own stuff on home video in Canada with the release of John Wick 3. The US copy had Bluray-DVD-Digital and the Canadian copy dropped the Digital code which is often a thing up here in Canada.

As for what this means for Canada, likely nothing to the consumer, just the back end of who physically sends the discs to the home video distributors who send them to the store. Before it was Disney logistics, now it'll be Sony logistics. The Universal/Warner pact does impact us since Shout Factory was previously distributed to stores via Universal and now that seems to have switched over to Unobstructed View as Universal closed their Canadian warehouse thus resulting in the Shoutfactory Canadian delays as they reset all this.

[ParamountChris]

Originally Posted by MadmanMark

Not to sure of the catalog home video status, but all new Lionsgate titles have gone out theatrically via Mongrel Media in Canada since April. I'm fairly certain this Mongrel deal allowed Lionsgate to retain Digital and Home Entertainment for themselves.

https://playbackonline.ca/2019/04/03...edia-cineplex/

I first noticed that Lionsgate was self distributing their own stuff on home video in Canada with the release of John Wick 3. The US copy had Bluray-DVD-Digital and the Canadian copy dropped the Digital code which is often a thing up here in Canada.

As for what this means for Canada, likely nothing to the consumer, just the back end of who physically sends the discs to the home video distributors who send them to the store. Before it was Disney logistics, now it'll be Sony logistics. The Universal/Warner pact does impact us since Shout Factory was previously distributed to stores via Universal and now that seems to have switched over to Unobstructed View as Universal closed their Canadian warehouse thus resulting in the Shoutfactory Canadian delays as they reset all this.

Universal closed its Canadian warehouse? That’s surprising. I can’t seem to find any proof of the Uni/WB distribution pact as of yet, does Warner handle all the Universal sales here then?

[MadmanMark]

Originally Posted by ParamountChris

Universal closed its Canadian warehouse? That’s surprising. I can’t seem to find any proof of the Uni/WB distribution pact as of yet, does Warner handle all the Universal sales here then?

I haven't been able to find out much about it. Other then what little has trickled down via UnobstructedView or maybe it was Your Entertainment Source listing May dates for Shout Factory titles that are otherwise March/April in the US. Another local video store here in the Vancouver area mentioned a possible slowdown in them receiving titles citing a warehouse closure. I put the two together that Universal shutdown their warehouse since they were handling Shout and that would impact those titles.

The Universal/WB pact in the states is very real
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/u...nt-1203467934/

So things are all shifting a lot. I think they are finally combining things in the US because there have been shipping delays on the latest Universal new releases with product like Croods 2 being late on retailer shelves like Best Buy.

[meremortal]

I'm just glad to see major studios still planning for the future of physical media.

[ParamountChris]

Originally Posted by MadmanMark

I haven't been able to find out much about it. Other then what little has trickled down via UnobstructedView or maybe it was Your Entertainment Source listing May dates for Shout Factory titles that are otherwise March/April in the US. Another local video store here in the Vancouver area mentioned a possible slowdown in them receiving titles citing a warehouse closure. I put the two together that Universal shutdown their warehouse since they were handling Shout and that would impact those titles.

The Universal/WB pact in the states is very real
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/u...nt-1203467934/

So things are all shifting a lot. I think they are finally combining things in the US because there have been shipping delays on the latest Universal new releases with product like Croods 2 being late on retailer shelves like Best Buy.

I’m sure packaging will stay the same at least. I don’t know how the merger will affect Uni’s deal with eOne, Elevation or anything else. All the catalogue titles of Lionsgate digitally have also appeared to move away from eOne, so that’s one publisher that’s affected hard.

[MadmanMark]

Originally Posted by ParamountChris

I’m sure packaging will stay the same at least. I don’t know how the merger will affect Uni’s deal with eOne, Elevation or anything else. All the catalogue titles of Lionsgate digitally have also appeared to move away from eOne, so that’s one publisher that’s affected hard.

I don't expect it to be impact eOne at all. They've mostly gotten out of the film distribution game. Most of their output deals with US studios expired or went elsewhere to Elevation. They've had a handful of titles in Quebec and might have some Canadian rights to Hasbro/Saban properties given they were purchased by them. They had the Josh Harnett film Most Wanted / Target Number One which was a Saban property distributed by Paramount in the US and eOne up here but the days of them having a lot are behind them.

Not too sure on Elevation. The home (physical media) market in Canada is pretty much a joke. Outside of the major major new releases, your lucky to get a bluray release, more often then not if it's just a DVD and even then it depends as to who has what rights.

[ParamountChris]

Originally Posted by MadmanMark

I don't expect it to be impact eOne at all. They've mostly gotten out of the film distribution game. Most of their output deals with US studios expired or went elsewhere to Elevation. They've had a handful of titles in Quebec and might have some Canadian rights to Hasbro/Saban properties given they were purchased by them. They had the Josh Harnett film Most Wanted / Target Number One which was a Saban property distributed by Paramount in the US and eOne up here but the days of them having a lot are behind them.

Not too sure on Elevation. The home (physical media) market in Canada is pretty much a joke. Outside of the major major new releases, your lucky to get a bluray release, more often then not if it's just a DVD and even then it depends as to who has what rights.

EOne definitely went downhill since their merger, they’ve let go of a ton of New Line, Focus Featured and Miramax titles and now it seems like all of their catalogue titles of Lionsgate have reverted back as well. Very disappointing when it comes to getting a Blu Ray over here. Lionsgate also got back it’s StudioCanal titles here after Mongrel had that partnership.

[MadmanMark]

In doing some more research today. It would look like the joint venture between Universal and Warner is labelled as SDS. YES - Your Entertainment Source lists on their prebooking list (https://yes.b2bwave.com/news/view?id=4)

SDS (Universal/Warner) - Titles that prebook March 19
* Justice Society: World War II (Blu-ray, 4K-UHD)
* The Little Things (DVD, DVD (BIL), Blu-ray, Blu-ray (BIL))
* The Marksman (DVD, Blu-ray)

---
Marksman is an Elevation Title in Canada, Open Road (Universal) in the US, so looks like atleast for this one, the Elevation/Universal pact is still happening.

[Filmfanatic10]

Well, this deal is in place now, but ever since it was first announced, I can't help but picture an Adam Sandler box set distributed by Sony, with titles from the Sony, Revolution and Lionsgate libraries. I'm bringing this up because Adam Sandler's first movie, Going Overboard, is owned by Lionsgate, and pretty much of his later movies have been produced or released by Sony.