Lions Gate Entertainment

Type	Public company
Traded as	NYSE: LGF
Industry	Motion pictures, television programming, home video, family entertainment, Video on demand, digital distribution, music, & music publishing
Founded	July 3, 1997 (July 3, 1997) (Vancouver, British Columbia as Lions Gate Films)
Founder(s)	Frank Giustra
Headquarters	Santa Monica, California, United States
Area served	North America United Kingdom Australasia
Key people	Jon Feltheimer (Co-Chairman and CEO) Michael Burns (Vice chairman) Steve Beeks (President)
Revenue	US$1.584 billion (FY 2011)[1]
Operating income	US$62.5 million (FY 2011)[2]
Net income	US$112 million (FY 2011)[1]
Total assets	US$1.557 billion (FY 2011)[3]
Total equity	US$53.559 million (FY 2011)[3]
Employees	486[4]
Subsidiaries	Celestial Tiger Entertainment Debmar-Mercury Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lionsgate Music & Publishing Lionsgate Television Mandate Pictures Roadside Attractions Summit Entertainment TV Guide Network
Website	www.lionsgate.com

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation or Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF)^[5], is a North American^[6] entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia on July 3, 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.^[7][8] As of 2012, it is the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America and the third most profitable movie studio.^[9]

History[link]

Lionsgate was originally known as IMI Computer Corp. on May 26, 1986 and later known as Beringer Gold Corp. Beringer Gold later was incorporated as Lions Gate Films under the Business Corporation Act in British Columbia and was founded on July 3, 1997 by Frank Giustra, a Canadian investment banker hoping to capitalize on the growing film industry in his home town.^[10][11] The company bought a number of small production facilities and distributors, including Montreal-based Cinépix Film Properties (also known as Cinéxus-Famous Players Distribution), Trimark Pictures, Mandate Pictures and, most notably, Artisan Entertainment (which itself had formerly been LIVE Entertainment, and before that, Vestron Pictures).^[12]

They had sold off their Canadian distribution rights to Maple Pictures, founded and co-owned by two former Lionsgate executives, Brad Pelman and Laurie May.^[13] Recently, Lionsgate sold their subsidiary Maple Pictures to film distributor Alliance Films, which is based in Montreal, Quebec.

Its first major box office success was American Psycho in 2000, which began a trend of producing and distributing films too controversial for the major American studios. Other notable films included Affliction, Gods and Monsters, Dogma, Saw and the Michael Moore documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, which until the release of The Hunger Games in 2012, became the studio's highest grossing film.

Lionsgate had played a significant role in the co-financing and co-partnership with Relativity Media on its films until 2010 when the latter company split from its deal with Lionsgate to form its own self-distribution unit.

In 2006, Lionsgate acquired the American television production and syndication company Debmar-Mercury. This studio is recognized for its role in a number of daytime TV programs.

In 2007, Lionsgate bought a partial stake in independent film distribution company Roadside Attractions.^[14]

Lionsgate, along with MGM and Paramount Pictures/Viacom, is also a co-owner of Epix, a new pay TV movie channel which debuted on October 30, 2009 on Verizon FiOS IPTV systems, that will rival HBO and Showtime.^[15] Lionsgate also stated they would be starting work in music albums.^[16]

The distribution of selected recent non-in-house films for pay-per-view and on-demand are under the supervision of NBCUniversal Television Distribution under Universal Pictures (Universal formally held home video and television rights to many of the early Lionsgate films), while all others (particularly the in-house films) are distributed for both cable and broadcast television through Lionsgate's syndicated division.

Lionsgate's library of movies and TV shows can be seen on digital platform Hulu.^[17]

In January 2012, Lionsgate announced it was acquiring Summit Entertainment, producers of the Twilight Saga films, for $412.5 million.^[18] The two companies have planned on merging since 2008.^[19]

On March 23, 2012, the Lionsgate film "The Hunger Games" grossed $68.3 million at the Friday U.S. box office. It was the best opening day ever for a nonsequel and the fifth highest of all time. Of that total, $19.7 million was earned via Thursday midnight screenings.^[20] In its first weekend, The Hunger Games grossed $152.5 million, making it Lionsgate's highest grossing film after just three days.

Film distributor history[link]

Films[link]

Aside from home video distribution of films sub-licensed from other studios, Lionsgate's library consists of films from the respective companies Lionsgate succeeded-in-interest, such as Producers Sales Organization, Vestron Pictures, and Artisan Entertainment, in addition to their in-house material. Their complete ownership depends on the worldwide regions of license.

Television[link]

Lionsgate Television produced such series as The Dead Zone, Five Days to Midnight, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, Boss, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and the Emmy Award-winning Mad Men. Lionsgate also recently acquired TV syndication firm Debmar-Mercury in 2006^[22] with 20th Television handling ad-sales with the exception for Meet the Browns, as the ad-sales are handled by Disney-ABC Domestic Television and Turner Television co-distributing the series. Lionsgate also owns the TV Guide Network.

Spin-off properties[link]

The Lions Gate Studios property in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was sold to a private company, Bosa Developments, and is now called North Shore Studios, and no longer have an affiliation with Lionsgate Entertainment. In 2006, the company acquired land in Rio Rancho, New Mexico for construction of a new studio facility. The former Lionsgate office located in Toronto is now owned by Maple Pictures (basically the spiritual successor for the original Lions Gate), the distribution arm of Alliance Films, a major Canadian motion picture distribution/production company, resulting in Lions Gate's demerger into two companies, Lionsgate (the American company formerly known as Artisan) and Maple Pictures (the Canadian company formerly known as Lions Gate).

Video[link]

Lionsgate has a home video library of more than 13,000 films with all of the former Artisan Entertainment releases (many the result of output deals with other studios), including such titles as Dirty Dancing, Earth Girls are Easy, Army of One, Total Recall, On Golden Pond, and the Rambo series. Lionsgate also distributes select NBC programs such as Will & Grace, Little House on the Prairie and The Biggest Loser; Mattel's Barbie-branded videos and Clifford the Big Red Dog videos from the Scholastic Corporation and is also the current home video distributor of HiT Entertainment titles, including Barney & Friends, Thomas and Friends and Fraggle Rock.

Video properties currently owned by Lionsgate Home Entertainment include those from Family Home Entertainment, Vestron Video, Lightning Video (a former Vestron company), and Magnum Entertainment.

Music publishing[link]

Lionsgate possesses its own record label and music publishing company in the form of Lionsgate Music and Publishing. Lionsgate Music established a joint venture with music publishing company Wind-up Records.^[23]

See also[link]

	Los Angeles portal
	Companies portal

• List of Lionsgate films
• List of Summit Entertainment films
• Artisan Entertainment
• Maple Pictures

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Cook, David A. (2000). Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970–1979 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press). ISBN 0-520-23265-8

External links[link]

• Official website
• Official UK website

Jason Statham
Jason Statham, 2011
Born	(1967-09-12) 12 September 1967 (age 44)[1] Shirebrook, Derbyshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1998–present

Jason Statham ( /ˈsteɪθəm/;^[2][3] born 12 September 1967)^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} is an English actor and former diver, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Revolver, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Statham appeared in supporting roles in several American films, such as The Italian Job, as well as playing the lead role in The Transporter, Death Race, Crank, The Bank Job and War (opposite martial arts star Jet Li). Statham also appeared alongside established action film actors Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren in The Expendables. He usually performs his own fight scenes and stunts.^[10]

Early life[link]

Statham was born in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, the son of Eileen (née Yates) and Barry Statham, a lounge singer.^{[7][11][12][13]} He moved to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where he chose not to follow his father's career working the local market stalls, and decided to pursue the arts. He grew up with football player Vinnie Jones, alongside whom he would later go on to act. Jones introduced him to football, and Statham went on to play for the local grammar school (1978–83), which he had attended since the age of eleven, but his real passion was diving.^{[citation needed]} He practised daily in perfecting his diving techniques – in particular, he finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992.^[14] He was also a member of Britain's National Diving Squad for twelve years.^[15][16]

Statham's life in the media began when he was spotted by a talent agent specialising in athletes while training at London's Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Afterwards, he became a model for the clothing brand French Connection.

Career[link]

Statham in 2007

While working as a model for French Connection (FCUK), he was introduced to fledgling British director Guy Ritchie^[17] who was developing a film project and needed to fill the role of a street-wise con artist. After learning about Statham's past as a black market salesman, Ritchie cast him to play the role of "Bacon" in his 1998 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.^[18] The movie was well received by both critics and audiences, and helped catapult Statham into the public eye. Statham's second collaboration with Ritchie came in the 2000 film Snatch, playing the role of "Turkish". Cast alongside popular actors Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio del Toro, and with the movie earning more than $80 million in box-office revenue, Statham was able to break into Hollywood and appeared in two movies in 2001: Ghosts of Mars and The One.

Statham was offered more film roles and in 2002 was cast as the lead role of driver Frank Martin in the action movie The Transporter, in which his background in martial arts enabled him to do most of his own stunts.^{[citation needed]} He has studied Wing Chun kung fu, karate, and kickboxing.^[19] The film spawned two sequels, Transporter 2 (2005) and Transporter 3 (2008). He also played in supporting roles in Mean Machine (2002), The Italian Job (2003) (in which he played Handsome Rob), and Cellular (2004) in which he played the lead villain. In 2005, Statham was once again cast by Ritchie to star in his new project, Revolver, which was a critical and box office failure.^[20] He also played a dramatic role in the independent drama London in 2006. In 2006 he played the lead role in Crank. Statham compares his role in Crank to his real life in the September 2006 issue of Maxim. The success of Crank led to a sequel in 2009 titled Crank: High Voltage.

In 2008, Statham starred in the British crime thriller The Bank Job which was both a critical and box office success. In 2008, American film critic Armond White hailed Statham's ascension as the leading international action film star. On the occasion of Death Race, White championed Statham's "best track record of any contemporary movie star."^[21] Later in 2008, White praised Statham's Transporter 3 as a great example of kinetic pop art.

Statham in 2006

In 2009, Statham started to develop a new movie written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples (Twelve Monkeys). Statham stated "We've got a movie we're trying to do, written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, in the vein of an old film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It’s not a remake or anything, but it's a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is The Grabbers."^[22]

In 2010, Statham appeared alongside fellow action stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke, among others in The Expendables. Statham plays Lee Christmas, a former SAS soldier and expert at close quarters combat using knives. In 2011, Statham starred in the remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson film, The Mechanic, and returned to British film in the police drama Blitz.

He also starred in the action film Killer Elite. The film was based on real events, which were the subject of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' fictional novel The Feather Men. Statham played an assassin named Danny who comes out of retirement to save an old friend, who was played by Robert De Niro.^[23] In August 2011, he is to begin filming Parker, for director Taylor Hackford; Statham will star as Parker, the criminal antihero previously played by Mel Gibson in 1999's Payback and by Lee Marvin in 1967's Point Blank.^[24]

Personal life[link]

Statham was in a seven year relationship with model Kelly Brook, until 2004.^[25][26] Since April 2010, he has been dating Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.^[27]

Filmography[link]

Box office performance[link]

Since 1998, Statham has appeared in over twenty films. Several have been box office hits, such as Snatch and The Bank Job. He has starred in two film series, The Transporter and Crank. The films he has been in have grossed a total of more than $1 billion USD at the box office, with the highest individual film being The Expendables.

Video game voice-overs[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

	England portal
	Biography portal
	Films portal

• Jason Statham at the Internet Movie Database