Lionsgate’s Execs Erik Feig, Patrick Wachsberger Likely To Leave Motion Pictures Department
Two executives — Motion Picture Group co-president Erik Feig and co-chair of the Motion Pictures Group Patrick Wachsberger (who has about a year left on his contract) are expected to leave Lionsgate. It was expected that Feig would leave when Joe Drake returned to Lionsgate late last year as Co-Chair of its Motion Picture Group — a title he was sharing with Wachsberger. Feig may set his own producing shingle anchored inside Lionsgate or go elsewhere. It is not clear what Wachsberger will do.
Potential buyers have been circling Lionsgate for about a year but we’re told that nothing is imminent. Lionsgate has been considered ripe for acquisition for some time as we reported there are already potential suitors in — Amazon, Verizon and a CBS-Viacom combination — who have all been sniffing around the company.
CEO Jon Feltheimer noted last month in a call with analysts: “Everyone has used the term ‘prey or predator.’ I think that is probably appropriate. At the end of the day, we love our business.”
Last year, Lionsgate entered into talks with Hasbro for a possible merger, but there was no agreement on price.
Word of the executive exits also comes after Altice USA and Lionsgate-owned Starz ended their long, six-week impasse to forge a multi-year affiliate deal earlier this month.
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