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2. Who is Lionsgate?
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (commonly referred to as Lionsgate) is a North American
entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997,
and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California. As of 2011, it is the most commercially
successful independent film and television distribution company in North America.

3. History
Lionsgate was founded in 1997 by Frank Giustra, a Canadian investment banker hoping to capitalize on the
growing film industry in his home town. The company bought a number of small production facilities and
distributors, including Montreal-based Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) 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).
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. Recently, Lionsgate sold their subsidiary Maple Pictures
to film distributor Alliance Films, which is based in Montreal, Canada.
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 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.
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.
Lionsgate also stated they would be starting work in music albums.
The distribution of selected recent non-in-house films for pay-per-view and on-demand are under the supervision
of NBC Universal 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.

4. Films
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.

5. Television
Lionsgate Television produced such series as The Dead Zone, Five Days to Midnight, Weeds,
Nurse Jackie, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and the Emmy Award-winning Mad Men. Lionsgate
also recently acquired TV syndication firm Debmar-Mercury in 2006 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.

6. Film
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).

7. Video
Lionsgate has a home video library of more than 8000 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.

8. Website of Lionsgate
The website shows the movies that are out now provided and are being distributed by Lionsgate, as you can see the
types of films that they are distributing are at the same calibre as the film trailer which is adventure, drama and
thriller/suspense.

9. The End