Lionsgate Films

Lionsgate Films (formerly known as Cinépix Film Properties) is a Canadian-American film production/distribution studio and a division of Lions Gate Entertainment. It is the largest and most successful mini-major film studio in North America. It focuses on foreign and independent films and has distributed various commercially successful film series, including The Twilight Saga (partially, via the firm's 2012 acquisition of Twilight distributor Summit Entertainment), The Hunger Games, The Divergent Series, Saw and The Expendables.

History

Cinépix Film Properties

Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) was founded in 1962 by John Dunning and Andre Link and was based in Montreal. CFP was a leading Canadian independent motion picture company, releasing both English- and French-language films and making ten to 12 modestly budgeted titles annually and distributed art-house films like grunge rock documentary Hype, Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66, and SICK: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist.

Lions Gate Entertainment

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (or Lionsgate) is a Canadian–American entertainment company. The company was formed on July 3, 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. As of November 2013, it is the most commercially successful mini major film and television distribution company in North America and the seventh most profitable movie studio. Lionsgate Films is not to be confused with Robert Altman's former company, Lion's Gate Films, although both names refer to the same Vancouver landmark, the Lions Gate Bridge.

History

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (Lionsgate) was formed in 1997 by Frank Giustra and Avi Federgreen with a $16 million investment including another $40 million from other investors which included Keyur Patel and Yorkton Securities' executives such as G. Scott Paterson. Giustra had recently retired as CEO from Yorkton, an investment bank, and Paterson was then President. Giustra then merged Lionsgate with Toronto Stock Exchange listed Beringer Gold Corp. (founded in 1986) to take the company public. Beringer's mining assets were soon sold off.

Twisted Pictures

Twisted Pictures is an American independent production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre. The company was founded in 2004 by Evolution Entertainment's Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Gregg Hoffman. They are best known for producing the Saw film series.

History

Twisted Pictures was formed after the box office success of Saw in 2004, which lead to a nine-picture distribution deal with Lionsgate. The company went on to produce six sequels in the Saw film series. Carl Mazzocone served as president for four years.

In June 2007, the company formed a joint venue with RKO Pictures to remake four films out of RKO library. The remakes include, Five Come Back (1939), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Body Snatcher (1945), and Bedlam (1946).

In October 2009, Twisted Pictures landed a deal with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre rights-holders Bob Kuhn and Kim Henkel after discussions with Platinum Dunes fell apart. The deal is for multiple films.

On June 28, 2012 Twisted Pictures opened a new television division. The first production of Twisted Television is a television adaptation of Anger Management.

My Little Pony

My Little Pony is an entertainment franchise developed by Hasbro which is marketed primarily to girls. It started as a line of plastic pony toys developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger and Steve D'Aguanno which have been produced since 1983. The ponies feature colorful bodies, manes and a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks. These are referred to in the two most recent incarnations as "cutie marks." My Little Pony has been revamped at least four times with new and more modern looks to appeal to a new market.

Following the original My Pretty Pony toy, introduced in 1981, My Little Pony was launched in 1983 and the line became popular during the 1980s. The original toy line ran from 1983 to 1995 (1992 in the US), and inspired animated specials, an animated feature-length film, and four animated television series.

The brand's sales increased many times over with the introduction of the fourth incarnation of the franchise, which started with the success of the 2010 animated television series. The brand grossed one billion USD in retail sales in 2014 and 650 million USD in retail sales in 2013.

Avi Lerner

Avinoam "Avi" Lerner (born 1947) is an American-Israeli film producer, primarily of American action movies.

Life and career

Avi Lerner was born in Haifa in 1947, and grew up on Hatzionut Boulevard. He joined the Israeli army in 1966 and served in the Six-Day War and in the Paratroopers Brigade. In an interview with Pnai Plus Lerner said he took part in the battle for the town of Rafah before penetrating as far as the Suez Canal. He served in the 1973 Yom Kippur War as a reservist.

Lerner originally worked in movie theaters in Tel Aviv but later relocated to South Africa, where he produced several films and also owned a chain of movie theaters until relocating once again to Los Angeles in the early 1990s. In 1991, he served as President of the independent production/distribution company, Global Pictures.

Lerner founded two production companies, Nu Image and Millennium Films, with Trevor Short, Danny Dimbort and Danny Lerner. The companies have a varied output, though the vast majority are action films. Most of the action films Avi produces are filmed in Bulgaria, where he owns Nu Boyana Film.