LIONSGATE AND LEADING INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS GO GLOBAL

Studio Partners With Trio of Entertainment Industry Executives to Form Globalgate and Identify Intellectual Property for Local-Language Film Production around the World

New Venture Launches with Co-Financing, Production and Distribution Partners Televisa/Videocine, Gaumont, Nordisk Film, Tobis, Kadokawa, Lotte, Belga & TME

SANTA MONICA, Calif., and VANCOUVER, May 2, 2016 /CNW/ -- Reflecting the growing popularity of local-language films in markets around the world, Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next generation global content leader, has partnered with international entertainment executives Paul Presburger, William Pfeiffer and Clifford Werber to launch Globalgate Entertainment, the principals announced today.

Globalgate has built a consortium of leading international producers, distributors and co-financing partners who will identify and provide priority access to intellectual property for production as local-language films in territories worldwide.  In addition to properties controlled by its partners, Globalgate will identify third-party properties in the U.S. and internationally for development and production as local-language films.  These films will be distributed by the consortium's partners and co-financed by the affiliated Globalgate Fund.  Globalgate is the first to apply such a distributor-aligned, equity financing structure to local-language film production on a global scale.

Globalgate's consortium partners include Belga (Benelux), Gaumont (France), Kadokawa (Japan), Lotte (Korea), Nordisk Film (Scandinavia), Televisa/Videocine (Mexico), TME (Turkey) and Tobis (Germany). Additionally, Globalgate is currently active and expects partners to join soon in territories such as China, India, and other key markets.

"I've known the Globalgate team for 25 years, and their experience, relationships and entrepreneurial skills will help establish the venture as a unique player in local-language film production," said Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer.  "By aligning ourselves with some of the top content companies in the world, Globalgate provides us with an opportunity to grow our presence in local-language films, leverage the content in our library and further mine exciting new IP and talent around the world."

Globalgate founders Werber, Pfeiffer and Presburger have been the architects of successful local-language film strategies for major studios and production companies including Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Sony, Celestial, and Pantelion for over 25 years.  They bring to the venture tremendous experience in the international marketplace and established relationships with leading filmmakers, producers and distributors around the world.  Presburger will continue as Chief Executive Officer of Pantelion Films and will focus his energies within Globalgate on intellectual property to be produced for Latin America and the Latino market in the U.S. as well as utilizing Pantelion's intellectual property within the Globalgate network.  Pfeiffer's continuing role as Senior Advisor to Lionsgate will also complement his Globalgate responsibilities.

The three executives noted their recent involvement in a wide range of local-language films including: the Mexican remake of the German hit comedy Fack Ju Goehte; remakes in China, France, and other territories of Mexico's hit comedy Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in Mexico and the U.S.; remakes of Brazil's hit comedy Se Eu Fosse Voce in several territories; and Germany's hit family franchise Fuenf Freunde, based on Enid Blyton's iconic book series.

Local-Language Film Market Share Tops 50% in Major Territories

The market share of local-language films is expanding in territories around the world, currently topping 90% in India, accounting for nearly 60% of China's booming box office, reaching nearly 60% in Turkey, more than 55% in Japan and 50% in Korea.  Local language films also comprise more than 40% of the box office in France, 30% in Denmark and a 27% market share in Germany.

"Local language films are competing successfully with Hollywood studio releases in market after market, representing a large and growing share of the box office in key territories around the world," said Pfeiffer, Werber, and Presburger.  "We're pleased to partner with Jon Feltheimer and the team at Lionsgate, along with some of the world's leading distributors, in capitalizing on this opportunity with a ground-breaking venture unique in its structure, focus and strategy."

Globalgate Consortium Partner Quotes

Gaumont's CEO Sidonie Dumas said, "As Gaumont expands its footprint within and outside of France with production of both French and English language films alongside Gaumont's worldwide television production, our alignment with Globalgate and its impressive array of partners promises to complement our strategies."

Kenneth Wiberg, Senior Vice-President of Nordisk Film said, "Although we have produced local language films for almost 110 years, we have over the past years experienced an enormous increase in interest from abroad in regards to Nordic content and IPs including a huge demand for international remakes of our films. With Globalgate, and by adding an experienced network of dedicated partners, we expect to be able to capitalize even better on our extensive Scandinavian produced film library."

Tobis' Timm Oberwelland, Peter Eiff and Theodor Gringel said, "The Globalgate team has long shepherded winning material in and out of Germany.  As we further build on Tobis' long history and deep library, aligning with Globalgate and its partners provides us enviable avenues to access valuable material as well as exploit ours."

Kadokawa's Executive Officer, Daiji Horiuchi, said, "We are excited to have our vast library of films, books and manga adapted around the world by Globalgate. William's decades at Disney, Sony, Celestial, and Dragongate producing Japanese content, exporting Japanese content and importing commercial content into Japan will be invaluable."

Lotte Entertainment's CEO Won Chun CHA observed that, "We are thrilled to be part of this new venture. The Korean film industry has dramatically grown over the last decade, and there is a consistently high demand among local viewers for content variety. We believe the partnership will bring us a unique opportunity to exchange various intellectual properties from all around the world and very much look forward to working with Globalgate and other consortium partners"

Belga's Patrick Vandenbosch added, "Our alignment with Globalgate affords us the opportunity to draw upon unique scripts and remakes the world over and we are happy to be part of such a prestigious assembly of leading film companies."

TME's Kemal Kaplanoglu said, "With Globalgate, TME will further expand its production of Turkish films, which dominate our box office."

ABOUT LIONSGATE

Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, international distribution and sales, branded channel platforms, interactive ventures and games, and location-based entertainment.  The Company has nearly 80 television shows on 40 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses.  These include the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black, the hit broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication successes The Wendy Williams Show and Celebrity Name Game (with FremantleMedia), the breakout series The Royals and the Golden Globe-nominated dramedy Casual.

The Company's feature film business spans eight labels and includes the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise, the Now You See Me, Divergent and John Wick series, Sicario, The Age of Adaline, Roadside Attractions' Love & Mercy and Mr. Holmes, Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.

Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates.  Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world. www.lionsgate.com

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SOURCE Lionsgate