‘Expendables 3′ Woos Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes, Nic Cage & Milla Jovovich As Lionsgate CEO Talks Up Plans
Production of the action movie is due to begin in August and the studio is in “advanced negotiations” with Jackie Chan, Wesley Snipes, Nic Cage and Milla Jovovich, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer told analysts this morning. In other production news, the exec says that four episodes of Anger Management will air on Fox in June. And Lionsgate has begun to shop a TV sitcom starring Martin Lawrence and Kelsey Grammer. “Nearly every network will hear the pitch in the next few weeks, and we have a high degree of confidence” that it will be on the air next year, Feltheimer says. Execs also say that they believe they’ll find conventional TV outlets that will be willing to syndicate Orange Is The New Black. The studio is producing the action-comedy for Netflix, which plans to introduce it July 11. “It is uncharted territory” in a business where productions typically go from TV networks to digital, not the other way around, Lionsgate Television president Kevin Beggs says. Still, “these lines are blurring” and “we’re pretty confident about this reverse windowing.”
Related: Lionsgate Shares Rise After It Beats Fiscal Q4 Financial Forecasts
Feltheimer also talked up Lionsgate’s new partnership with CBS at TV Guide Network. “This isn’t a huge piece of the CBS broadcasting empire but [CEO Les Moonves] intends to win on TVGN….We’re very bullish about this asset.” Feltheimer also hinted that there’ll be some news soon about TVGuide.com, which has been shopped around for a possible sale. “We continue to look at all of our joint ventures,” he says. Wall Street likes what it heard this morning, and last night in the company’s earnings report. Lionsgate shares are up 5.8% in early trading today.
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