Partnership Kicks Off in Berlin Next Month with Lionsgate
Sales of Participant's Entebbe & Captive State
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. and SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 10, 2017 /CNW/ -- Participant Media, the
entertainment leader in creating socially relevant films that
inspire and further social impact, announced today that Lionsgate
(NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) will represent the international rights to
Participant's upcoming slate of narrative feature films and select
documentaries. The deal will cover Participant films in all
territories outside of North
America, including available non-output territories for
films that fall under Participant's deal with Amblin Partners.
The move bolsters Participant's expansion in bringing its
content to audiences globally, furthering founder Jeff Skoll's mission of combining great
storytelling with social impact. Lionsgate will initially introduce
two Participant narrative feature films, José Padilha's
Entebbe and Rupert Wyatt's
sci-fi thriller Captive State to buyers at the at the
European Film Market in Berlin in
February. Participant plans to provide Lionsgate with up to five
narrative films annually, along with several documentary
features.
The agreement expands a long-standing collaboration that dates
from Participant's strategic investment in Summit Entertainment and
continues with the companies' current partnership in the Julia
Roberts' starrer Wonder, currently in post-production.
"We're delighted to expand our collaboration with Jeff Skoll, David
Linde and the entire Participant Media team," said Lionsgate
Motion Picture Group Chairman Patrick
Wachsberger and International COO Andrew Kramer. "Participant is a major
creative force with a unique and resonant signature, and we're
proud to handle their deep pipeline of prestigious, commercially
exciting and socially relevant films. The combination of
Lionsgate's international distribution organization and
Participant's production, marketing and social impact teams will
allow us to find opportunities to enhance the social impact of
their movies as well as maximize their box office performance."
"We have successfully worked with Patrick, Andrew and the
Lionsgate team for years and partnering with them on our
international expansion is a perfect and natural broadening of our
relationship," said Participant CEO David
Linde. "One of Participant's key initiatives is to
dramatically expand our international footprint, and with
Lionsgate's best in class sales team by our side, this will happen
alongside the best distribution in the world."
Wachsberger, Kramer and Lionsgate Motion Picture Group EVP's of
International Sales Wendy Reeds and Crystal
Bourbeau, both based in the company's London office, will lead the Lionsgate team at
Berlin.
Entebbe, starring Rosamund
Pike, Daniel Bruhl and
Eddie Marsan, is the true story of
one of the most daring hostage rescues in history, told from the
varying perspectives of the hostage takers, victims and rescuers. A
political-action thriller directed by José Padilha and produced by
Working Title, Entebbe brings the longstanding conflict
between Israel and Palestine into stark relief.
Captive State, directed by Rupert
Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and starring
John Goodman and Ashton Sanders, is a sci-fi thriller set in a
Chicago neighborhood nearly a
decade after it has been occupied by an extraterrestrial force.
Captive State uses a grounded sci-fi setting to shine light on the
modern surveillance state and the threats to civil liberties and
the role of dissent within an authoritarian society. Both films are
financed through Participant's partnership in Amblin Partners.
The partnership deepens a Lionsgate international theatrical
slate that already encompasses films from some of the leading
content companies in the world, including CBS Films, Alcon
Entertainment, Black Label Media & River Road Pictures.
The deal was negotiated by Gabriel
Brakin, General Counsel and EVP of Business Affairs for
Participant Media, with Linde and Jonathan
King, EVP Narrative Films. Kramer negotiated on behalf of
Lionsgate International.
ABOUT PARTICIPANT MEDIA
Participant Media (www.participantmedia.com) is the leading
media company dedicated to entertainment that inspires and compels
social change. Founded in 2004 by Jeff
Skoll, Participant's content combines the power of a good
story well told with opportunities for real world impact and
awareness around the most pressing global issues of our time.
Participant's more than 75 films,
including Spotlight, Contagion, Lincoln, The
Help, He Named Me Malala, The Look of
Silence, CITIZENFOUR, Food,
Inc., and An Inconvenient Truth, have
collectively earned 50 Academy Award® nominations and 11 wins,
including Best Picture for Spotlight. Participant's
digital entertainment division, SoulPancake (www.soulpancake.com),
is an award-winning provider of thought-provoking, joyful, and
uplifting digital content including such widely popular series
as Kid President and The Science of
Happiness and reaches an audience of nearly 9 million
fans. Follow Participant Media on Twitter
at @Participant and
on Facebook and Instagram. Follow SoulPancake on
Twitter @soulpancake and
on Facebook and Instagram.
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) is a vertically integrated next
generation global content leader with a diversified presence in
motion picture production and distribution, television programming
and syndication, premium pay television networks, home
entertainment, global distribution and sales, interactive ventures
and games and location-based entertainment.
With the acquisition of Starz, Lionsgate adds to its portfolio
of businesses the flagship STARZ premium pay network serving nearly
25 million subscribers and the STARZENCORE platform with over 31
million subscribers. The combined company will operate five
over-the-top (OTT) streaming services and the Starz app delivering
content directly to consumers.
The Company's feature film business spans eight labels and
includes the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise,
the Now You See Me and John
Wick series, the critically-acclaimed box office
hit La La Land, which led all films with seven Golden
Globe nominations, Hacksaw Ridge, Tyler Perry's Boo! A Madea Halloween, CBS Films/Lionsgate's Hell or
High Water, Roadside Attractions' Manchester by the Sea, Codeblack
Films 'breakout concert film Kevin
Hart: Let Me Explain and Pantelion Films'
Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing
Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
One of the largest independent television businesses in the
world, Lionsgate's slate of premium quality series encompasses
nearly 90 shows on more than 40 different networks. These
include the ground-breaking Orange is the New Black, the fan
favorite Nashville, the
syndication success The Wendy Williams Show, the acclaimed
drama The Royals, the Golden Globe-nominated Casual,
the breakout success Greenleaf and hit Starz series
including Outlander, Black Sails, Survivor's
Remorse and Power, the second highest-rated premium pay
television series of 2016.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in
box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates.
Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of more
than 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an
important source of recurring revenue and serves as a foundation
for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate,
Summit Entertainment and Starz brands are synonymous with original,
daring, quality entertainment in markets around the
world. www.lionsgate.com
For media inquiries, please contact:
Participant:
Ileen Reich
310-550-5100
ireich@participant.com
Paul Pflug
323.658.1555
paul@pcommgroup.com
Lionsgate:
Peter D. Wilkes
Lionsgate
310-255-3726
pwilkes@lionsgate.com
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/participant-media-partners-with-lionsgate-to-represent-international-rights-to-upcoming-feature-film-slate-300388853.html
SOURCE Lionsgate