Lionsgate posts $24 million loss, comes in under Wall Street projections this quarter

[JEDGAR1000]

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/l...ns-1203224797/

Lionsgate has posted a quarterly loss and its revenues and operating income have come in under Wall Street projections, despite growth from its premium cable channel, Starz.

The studio reported a net loss of $24 million, or 11 cents a share, with adjusted operating income of $103 million for its fourth fiscal quarter ended March 31. The earnings per share of 11 cents came in well short of the consensus outlook for 19 cents.

Revenues totaled $914 million, or $22 million under the consensus estimate. Starz reported 24.7 million overall domestic subscribers in the quarter, up 1.2 million from the year-ago quarter, driven by strong over-the-top to more than 4 million subscribers. Starz CEO Chris Albrecht left the company in February.

Starz has been the subject of recent speculation with CBS rumored to have made a $5 billion offer that was spurned. Starz was acquired by Lionsgate in 2016 for $4.4 billion.

During the conference call with Wall Street analysts following the earnings report, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said the company does not comment on mergers and acquisitions rumors. Instead, he touted the growth plans for Starzplay streaming service outside the United States with plans for operations in 51 countries by July, achieving profitability by fiscal 2023 with as many as 25 million subscribers. He added that Starzplay Arabia has been particularly successful.

The results did not include the unexpectedly strong box office performance by “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum,” which opened on May 17 and represents the studio’s first hit since 2017’s “Wonder.” Lionsgate has already green-lit “John Wick 4” for release in 2021.

Things are not looking bright for Lionsgate. They've already done 2 rounds of layoffs, 46 people total, this year alone.

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/l...fs-1203158297/

Hopefully we don't see a buyout, I for one don't want to see their 4k catalog releases end, and have consistently enjoyed many of their theatrical films. Plus of course more studio choice is always nice. What're your guys thoughts? Think they can save themselves or doomed to fail? Imo focusing more on Starz is probably their best bet, as it's had growth.

[BluBonnet]

Even JW3 won't make up for these results!

[LordoftheRings]

Disney's gonna buy Lionsgate; all will be just fine.

[Foggy]

This is a shame, Lionsgate is one of the few riskier studios taking punts on original mid-teir productions.

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by LordoftheRings

Disney's gonna buy Lionsgate; all will be just fine.

If they go up for sale it will be Verizon, Apple, or Amazon.

[Underworld54]

They only have themselves to blame, taking a bath on that new Hellboy movie was a key factor.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by mwynn

If they go up for sale it will be Verizon, Apple, or Amazon.

They’ve been more interested in being bought by Viacom once they’ve re-merged with CBS.

[InuYashaCrusade]

Guess that Power Rangers sequel isn't happening then

[xbs2034]

I think in general Lionsgate seems to be underperforming a lot except for John Wick, but is a $24 million loss that big of a deal (I actually would have guessed it would be higher, and I’m sure they lost a lot on Hellboy alone). Back in 2017, Sony’s film division once lost $920 million for a quarter and I recall many other studios with quarterly losses over $50 million at times.

https://deadline.com/2017/02/sony-th...ss-1201900718/

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by InuYashaCrusade

Guess that Power Rangers sequel isn't happening then

Its under development with Paramount and Hasbro now.

[InuYashaCrusade]

Originally Posted by starsteam

Its under development with Paramount and Hasbro now.

Oh yeah I forgot all about that

[Kaiju]

Lionsgate only has like two or three big properties and that’s it, no? Saw, Hunger Games... what else?

They need a few more.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Kaiju

Lionsgate only has like two or three big properties and that’s it, no? Saw, Hunger Games... what else?

They need a few more.

Well, they have John Wick, but I'm not sure even that is big enough and of course Hunger Games is over and done with.

[Kaiju]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Well, they have John Wick, but I'm not sure even that is big enough and of course Hunger Games is over and done with.

Right and right.

[Chaotic]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

Even JW3 won't make up for these results!

Only franchise that has worked in their favor since Hinger Games ended.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Chaotic

Only franchise that has worked in their favor since Hinger Games ended.

Yes, exactly.

[JustinB13]

They better not make any Hunger Games prequels. Would I watch them? Yes. Would they be any good? Probably not.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by JustinB13

They better not make any Hunger Games prequels. Would I watch them? Yes. Would they be any good? Probably not.

It would probably be like Fantastic Beasts, but worse.

[JustinB13]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

It would probably be like Fantastic Beasts, but worse.

Yeah it would probably be worse than the first FB but it’d be hard to be as bad as Crimes of Grindelwald.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by JustinB13

Yeah it would probably be worse than the first FB but it’d be hard to be as bad as Crimes of Grindelwald.

Well, I can't argue with that. I was never a HP fan but at least those movies didn't darn near put you to sleep.