As first reported by Bloomberg, Legendary Entertainment is considering a potential deal to acquire Lionsgate Studios. This could bring the studios behind Godzilla, Dune, John Wick, and The Hunger Games under one roof.
Lionsgate officially split itself up back in May, with Starz and Lionsgate Studios going their separate ways. This was done in part to make it easier for both companies to pursue potential M&A deals. As for Legendary and Lionsgate, the word is that the two companies are looking into partnering on several films. It could set the stage for a more official acquisition offer if that goes well.
Legendary went through its own shake-up last year, buying out Dalian Wanda Group’s stake and putting control in the hands of Legendary and private-equity giant Apollo Global Management. CEO Josh Grode said the move would allow the company to pursue new M&A opportunities.
“We had management control and we had creative control before the deal, so nothing really changes on that front,” he said. “I think probably the only thing that maybe is no longer there, is when we would have conversations around large scale M&A, we would have to deal with the foreign ownership issue, and that’s now no longer an issue.“
We’ve seen an increasing number of these huge acquisitions over the years, most notably with Disney, which has spent billions of dollars to acquire Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Fox. Amazon also acquired MGM a few years ago, and recently shelled out an additional $1 billion to take complete control of the James Bond franchise. It’s hard not to believe that everything we love will eventually fall under the same umbrella. Life, brought to you by Disney.
If Legendary were to snap up Lionsgate, it would mark yet another big swing in Hollywood’s ongoing consolidation. For audiences, it could mean bigger crossover franchises and fewer truly independent studios left standing. For the companies involved, it’s all about scale, more IP, more leverage with streaming platforms, and more muscle to compete with tech giants like Amazon and Apple, who are now major players in the film industry.
