'La La Land' Helps Lionsgate Motion Pictures Unit Post $52 Million Q4 Profit

25 May, 2017 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Strong box office results from Oscar winner La La Land helped Lionsgate’s motion pictures segment post a $52 million fourth-quarter (ended March 31) profit, compared with a $1.3 million loss during the previous-year period. Revenue increased 20.6% to $654 million, compared with $542 million a year ago.

The motion pictures segment includes theatrical production, licensing and distribution, home entertainment, television production and distribution. Home entertainment includes former Starz Distribution, which distributes proprietary and third-party (i.e. Weinstein Co.) titles.

La La Land, which generated $443 million at the global box office, was released on disc April 25, while John Wick Chapter 2 hits store shelves June 13, and The Shack hits retail May 30.

On the call, Steve Beeks, co-COO and co-president of the motion picture group, said physical and digital sales of library content topped $500 million in the fiscal year, with margins reaching record levels due to electronic sellthrough.

“A lot of the operating margin [from disc] is being taken up by electronic media, so we feel pretty good about library, as we always have,” Beeks said.

Home entertainment results will be included in Lionsgate's pending 10Q filing.

Lionsgate upstart subscription streaming services, which include Tribeca ShortList and Comic-Con HQ, generated a loss of $10.6 million on revenue of $1.3 million. For the fiscal year, the SVOD services posted a loss of $35.5 million on revenue of $2.9 million.

Media networks segment (Starz Networks) generated profit of $127 million on revenue of $340 million. New standalone over-the-top video service Starz OTT, has more than 1 million subscribers and just inked a distribution deal with telecom Sprint.
 

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