What's the Deal?
Adding a fresh new piece to the Signal, I will be providing brief updates on recent deal news and activity in the industry.
- To begin close to home, Lionsgate started off 2012 quickly by announcing that it has acquired Summit Entertainment for approximately $412.5 million. Lionsgate will pay Summit in cash and stock, and in return receives Summit’s content library as well as a healthy amount of cash added to their balance sheet. Summit shareholders are used to seeing box office success from teen series Twilight and now Lionsgate hopes to duplicate that success with new franchise The Hunger Games, with the first installment set to release in March.
- If you thought 2011 was a big year for deals at Sundance Film Festival, then get ready for this year. While no deals can be reported as of yet from Sundance (which begins tomorrow), there will likely be a long list of distribution deals in just a few days. This year, every movie that will be part of the Premieres category is still for sale. It will be interesting to see which distributors snatch up all of the Canadian rights this year.
- On the other side of the globe, Cinemacraft, an interactive media company based in Singapore, has just raised funds for both a new interactive video ad network, as well as a consumer video application. Expect their applications to be released in Japan, USA, India and Indonesia in the near future. They will be targeting the smartphone and tablet media content users as more and more people begin weaning off traditional television and look for alternate ways to watch TV on the go. Should we expect a renewed debate over vertical integration and mobile broadcasting as company’s like Cinemacraft attempt to present new mobile applications?
