Dang, Lionsgate Just Gutted Its TV Overall Deals

Tony Maglio
·3 min read

Lionsgate Television just eliminated more than half of its development deals, IndieWire has confirmed. The reduction comes after Lionsgate’s $375 million acquisition of eOne from Hasbro. The eOne purchase, which on the television side brought over “Yellowjackets” and other series, mixed with general industry contraction in the post-Peak TV era, rationalized the sweeping cuts.

Lionsgate executives conducted a two-months-long review of the Lionsgate Television and eOne talent rosters, which together included nearly 60 overall and first-look deals. The number is now below 30; no names have been reported on either the “stay” or “go” side of the ledger.

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Deadline first reported the news. A Lionsgate rep declined comment on this story.

It is pretty common for a company to slim down ahead of acquisition — just ask Paramount — but this round was pretty drastic. It is important to remember that during last year’s writers strikes, pretty much all overall deals were put on pause. The stoppage made it a bit easier for a studio to not bring certain writers back.

In addition to the eOne deal, Lionsgate recently spent about $200 million to increase its (already) majority stake in 3 Arts Entertainment. Simultaneously, Lionsgate is separating itself from Starz — and the process has been taking FOR.EV.ER. The separation should be executed this year, we’re told, though we’ve heard that before.

The point of the eOne deal was to fatten Lionsgate the studio up for acquisition. (Or Lionsgate, the company before it is carved up.) The original plan at Lionsgate proper was to sell off premium TV brand Starz, but then two things happened: 1) Nobody wanted Starz, and 2) MGM sold to Amazon for $8.5 billion. That’s enough to get someone’s attention.

So Lionsgate decided it had to spend money to make money. The eOne deal also included “The Rookie,” “Naked & Afraid,” “The Recruit,” “Fear the Walking Dead,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Criminal Minds,” and other series. Films such as “1917,” “The Woman King,” “The Post,” “Molly’s Game,” “The BFG,” “Booksmart,” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” are also now under the Lionsgate umbrella. Find more here.

Even so, Lionsgate is no MGM — they’ve got that lion thing in common — especially considering Hasbro hung on to its key toy brands like Peppa Pig, Transformers, Dungeons & Dragons, Power Rangers, PJ Masks, G.I. Joe, My Little Pony, and Magic: The Gathering. Hasbro, not Lionsgate/eOne, has the rights to adapt those for the screen. Mathematically, Lionsgate is about half an MGM: Wells Fargo analysts have the enterprise value of the spun off studio at about $4.8 billion.

Lionsgate will have roughly 20 scripted series on TV and streaming this year, including “Ghosts” on CBS, NBC’s “Extended Family,” “Acapulco” plus an untitled Seth Rogen comedy for Apple TV+, and “Spartacus,” “The Hunting Wives,” “BMF,” and “The Serpent Queen” on Starz. On Thursday, “BMF” was renewed for a fourth season ahead of the Season 3 premiere.

Lionsgate reported earnings for its fiscal third quarter in 2023 on February 8, 2024. As of December 31, 2023, Starz had 19.7 million subscribers in the U.S. between its linear channel and streaming service.

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