Q1 2026 Lionsgate Studios Corp Earnings Call
Speaker #1: Have a day and welcome to the Lionsgate first quarter 2026 earnings call. All participants will be in the listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal conference specialists by pressing the star key, followed by zero.
Speaker #1: After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a estion, you may press star and one on your touch tone phone.
Speaker #1: And to withdraw your estion, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Miley Shaw, Head of Investor Relations.
Speaker #1: Please go head.
Speaker #2: Good afternoon. Thank ou for joining us for the Lionsgate Studios Corporation's fiscal 2026 first quarter conference call. We'll begin with opening remarks from our EO, John Feldheimer, followed by remarks from our CFO, Jimmy Barge.
Speaker #2: After their remarks, we'll the call for questions. Also joining us on the call today are Vice Chairman Michael Burns, COO Brian Goldsmith, Chairman of the TV Group, Kevin Beggs, Chairman of the Motion Picture Group, Adam Fogelson, President of Worldwide TV and Digital Distribution, Jim Packer, and Senior Advisor to the Office of the CEO at Lionsgate and Co-CEO of Three Arts, Brian Weinstein.
Speaker #2: The matters discussed on the call also include forward-looking statements, including those regarding the performance of future fiscal years. Such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties.
Speaker #2: Actual results could differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors. This includes the risk factors set forth in our filings for Lionsgate Studios Corp, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect any future events or circumstances.
Speaker #2: I'll now turn the call over to John.
Speaker #3: Thank you, Nilay, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. We're reporting a quarter in line with expectations in what will be a busy transitional year for our studio, as we continue to refill our film and television pipelines, expand key franchises, create fresh revenue streams for our library, to a new generation of consumers.
Speaker #3: During the quarter and roughout this fiscal year, we're taking a number of important steps towards returning to the solid and significant growth in fiscal 27 that we've previously projected.
Speaker #3: The Hunger Games, Sunrise on the Reaping, began shooting in Spain last week with Francis Lawrence directing one of our strongest Hunger Game casts ever, for a November 20th, 2026 release.
Speaker #3: Together with our partners at Universal, we dated our global theatrical event film, Michael, for release in theaters and on IMAX on April 24th, 2026.
Speaker #3: Kicking off our fiscal year with a major tentpole and giving an early start to next summer's box office. As you read earlier this week, we will release Mel Gibson's Resurrection of the Christ, his long-awaited follow-up to The Passion of the Christ, in two parts, six weeks apart.
Speaker #3: The first film will open on Good Friday in March 2027. And the second film will be released on Ascension Day in May 2027. Our fiscal 27 is now anchored by three major tentpoles, the Hunger Games, Michael, and the first Resurrection film.
Speaker #3: The second Resurrection film allows us a tentpole start to fiscal 28. During the quarter, we announced a new saw deal. Partnering with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, and putting the franchise back in the hands of its original co-creators, James Wan and Lee Wan Il.
Speaker #3: The deal elevates Saw to a new level potential box office performance while maintaining our existing ownership and distribution. Our Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg produced comedy, The Studio, for Apple TV+, earned 23 Emmy nominations, the most ever for a freshman comedy.
Speaker #3: And the series has already been renewed for a second season. The Hunting Wives, from Lionsgate Television and Three Arts Entertainment, has entered the zeitgeist, debuting at number three on Netflix's top 10 list in its first week.
Speaker #3: Remarkably, it has moved up to number two on their global list of English-speaking shows though it has only played in the US. Finally, our library, driven by a significant lift in the John Wick titles due to the release of Ballerina, reported strong quarterly revenues on its way to setting yet another record with nearly a billion dollars in trailing 12-month revenue.
Speaker #3: Returning our individual businesses, the motion picture group's results in the quarter were impacted by the domestic box office performance of Ballerina. However, the film is approaching $140 million at the worldwide box office, overperforming in the ancillary markets and, most importantly, satisfied our John Wick fans.
Speaker #3: This year's slate is backloaded with Francis Lawrence's gripping adaptation of the Stephen King novel, The Long Walk, the feel-good comedy Good Fortune, starring Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, and Aziz Ansari, and the third installment of the now-you-see-me franchise with Reuben Fleischer directing.
Speaker #3: The wildly entertaining thriller, The Housemaid, directed by Paul Feig and starring Sidney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, based on the New York Times best-selling novel, is testing exceptionally well and has all the earmarks of a holiday season breakout.
Speaker #3: But our slate extends far beyond the theatrical box office. To engage a new generation of audiences who want to watch and experience their content, we've expanded the focus of our global products and experiences group to include virtual experiences interactive games and partnerships leading digital platforms that complement our ongoing initiatives.
Speaker #3: In the virtual world, we recently announced a partnership with 100 million daily active users, to license our franchises to the next generation of talent in the creator economy.
Speaker #3: As part of our effort to extend our franchises into real-world experiences, we opened the John Wick experience in Las Vegas in March and received a $4.9 Google rating from visitors.
Speaker #3: We're ly in talks to expand it to other cities. And several of our key properties are being readied for launch on Broadway and other stages around the world with advanced ticket selling well in anticipation of the Hunger Games on stage opening in London in October and La La Land, shepherded by Wicked producer Mark Platt, targeting a Broadway opening next year, to be followed by Dirty Dancing and Then Wonder.
Speaker #3: Turning to television, we Roblox, which has more than reported a strong quarter driven by higher episodic deliveries, higher margins on our new series, and lower G&A as we continue to cut costs.
Speaker #3: During the quarter, we continue to lean into the high-end premium series that have always been our core strength. The studio and the Hunting Wives join a slate that includes the comedy ghosts and the procedural The Rookie, which continue to be perennial ratings leaders on CBS and ABC, respectively.
Speaker #3: Coming up, we have the epic Gladiator drama Spartacus: House of Asher and the spin-off Power Origins for Stars, the Twilight TV series adaptation Midnight Sun for Netflix, and John Wick: Under the High Table for a major streamer.
Speaker #3: The Rainmaker, adapted from John Grisham's bestseller, debuts on USA Network next week. Though we continue to see pressure in the broader TV operating environment, we're continuing to deliver noisy properties that resonate across every genre, economic model, and type of platform.
Speaker #3: Whether it's our partnership with Roblox unlocking opportunities for creators, or restructuring our saw deal to take it to next level of box office performance, rolling out three dozen proprietary fast channels to create new revenue streams for our library, or partnering with Roku earlier this week on the new SVOD service Howdy, collaborating with YouTube on branded channels for Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences, amassing $6 million TikTok followers for our movies ranking second only to Disney, among Hollywood studios, or earning a record $23 Emmy nominations for the studio on Apple TV+.
Speaker #3: We're delivering content to every audience, every demo, and every kind of platform in our capacity as a content arms dealer of choice. In closing, there are a lot of things we cannot control in current operating environment.
Speaker #3: Streamers cutting back as they focus on profitability rather than subscriber growth, a blockbuster-centric box office that has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, and a new generation of audiences who look at content in completely different ways than their predecessors.
Speaker #3: But there are also a lot of things we can control, extending our brands to reach the critical Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences on the platforms where they live.
Speaker #3: Operating as a first mover in incorporating AI technology across our businesses, increasing efficiency, creating significant cost savings, and helping us program our self-directed channels.
Speaker #3: Cutting costs and streamlining our organization to align with where the business is headed, and continuing to exploit and strengthen our core assets, our library and portfolio of IP, with more than 30 franchise properties in active development and production, through prequels, sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations.
Speaker #3: If we execute well in these areas, we will return to the kind of growth in fiscal 27 that our shareholders expect. Now I'd like to turn things over to Jimmy.
Speaker #4: Thanks, John, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll briefly discuss our fiscal first quarter 2026 studio financial results and provide an update on the balance sheet.
Speaker #4: For the quarter, Lionsgate Studios' revenue was $556 million, adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $3.7 million, and operating loss was $10.6 million. Reported fully diluted loss per share was $0.35 cents, and fully diluted adjusted loss per share was $0.32 cents.
Speaker #4: Net cash flow used in operating activities was $109 million, while use of adjusted free cash flow for the quarter was $112 million. Trailing 12-month library revenue grew 12% year over year, to $989 million reaching record levels for the third consecutive quarter.
Speaker #4: Breaking down our performance in quarter, let's start with motion picture. Motion picture revenue was $267 million, and segment profit $2.4 million. Revenue and segment profit expectedly declined year over year, in comparison to the prior year, which benefited from the carryover of fiscal 2024 films including The Hunger Games, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Saw X.
Speaker #4: Additionally, this past quarter, included P&A for June release of Ballerina, which we expect to be recouped in the next few quarters. Moving to TV, revenue of $289 million was up 20% year over year, while segment profit of $26 million was up nearly 150%.
Speaker #4: TV continues to rebound from the strikes, with revenue strength driven by growth in episodic deliveries for new and returning series including Spartacus, P-Valley, and Hunting Wives.
Speaker #4: Now let's take a look at the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $1.5 billion of net debt in line with the prior quarter, and down from the $1.65 billion at the date of separation in May.
Speaker #4: Studio leverage at the end of the quarter increased to six times, as lower adjusted EBITDA expectedly impacted trailing 12-month figures. Looking forward, we continue to anticipate that fiscal 26 will be a back-end loaded year.
Speaker #4: We expect the upcoming wide theatrical titles and fiscal 26 to drive strong carryover profits and long-term library value in fiscal 27 and beyond. Coupling this, with a fiscal 27 slate that includes three tentpole films, and a TV business that is expected to see a significant increase in episodic deliveries next year, we remain confident that we are still on track to deliver solid, two-year adjusted EBITDA growth from fiscal 25 through fiscal 27 as we previously discussed.
Speaker #4: Now I'd like to turn the call over to Nilay for Q&A.
Speaker #5: Thanks, Jimmy. Operator, can we open the call up for a &A?
Speaker #6: Yes, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch tone phone.
Speaker #6: If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If, any time, your question has been addressed, and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then two.
Speaker #6: And at this time, we'll pause momentarily to assemble our roster. And our first question will come from Brent Pencer with Raymond James. Please go head.
Speaker #7: Hey, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions, first one from me is, can you all update us on Three Arts and, and how core is that asset to Lionsgate strategically?
Speaker #7: Or is that something that, you'd be willing to sell some or, or all of your stake, to help bring down leverage?
Speaker #8: Yeah, it's John. look, th-they're, they're doing a great job. they're on a roll in a really hot sector, and there's lots of investor interest in it.
Speaker #8: we've spent some money, on acquiring two, terrific management companies. I'm gonna have Brian Weinstein expand on that in a minute. But, for sure, we're cognizant of our balance sheet, and, if we can bring in the right partner, to help us fund the growth and, you know, help us a little on the, the balance sheet, I think that's something we would certainly and are considering.
Speaker #8: And Brian why 't you go from there?
Speaker #9: Sure. Thanks, John. you know, look, as John stated, there's. The, the,
Speaker #8: Mm-hmm.
Speaker #9: the sector has a lot of investor interest, and there's a commitment to the space of representation, you know, Three Arts's long been a clear market leader in management and production.
Speaker #9: And we do have quite a bit of momentum, which is exciting. you know, we've acquired two businesses recently, one a sports business called AMA Management and two a broadcast news and personality business.
Speaker #9: Although management, which just further, deepen our, our commitment those spaces and, growing the company. You know, we have momentum with, six new shows sold, I should say renewed, and a bunch new shows sold.
Speaker #9: And in , you know, the relationship with Lionsgate is strong. You know, as we'll talk about later, Hunting Wives is a, is a, you know, a project that we share together with Lionsgate, as well as Lost Coastal Reefs, which is a new show which is currently number one on Peacock.
Speaker #9: So, it's been a productive operating time period for us, and John addressed the, strategic possibilities.
Speaker #7: Okay. And then, the, library and the IP are clearly, big parts of, of, h, Lionsgate's value. Can ou talk a little bit about your ownership of the library and, in terms of, viously, you, you license out the international rights, so how should investors think about that, that, that record library revenue?
Speaker #7: What portion of it you own? What portion of it you control? as we, we try to value Lionsgate.
Speaker #8: Yeah. Yeah, great estion. and I'm happy to clear it up together with Jim Packer, who runs our global, distribution, sort of what seems to be a misconception.
Speaker #8: We own most of our, our library. We've been producing for 25 years now. We've put $20 billion into a production. and, and, and really pretty much own, all of our library.
Speaker #8: At, at various times, we like every studio, licensing, license, licenses out our, our product. but a-at the end of the day, you even looked at, at the, the library results for this quarter, 29 out of the top 30 titles are, are titles, that we own.
Speaker #8: and, and so, Jim, maybe you could expand on that a little bit.
Speaker #9: Yeah. I think, you know, overall, if you look at big picture, I don't think we'd be at a billion dollars or close to a billion dollars of trailing 12 if we didn't own, big significant portion.
Speaker #9: I think if you break it down a bit, on the TV side, we control and distribute 20,000 episodes of television, and control those globally.
Speaker #9: So that, that part's very easy. On the film side, we released theatrically direct or directed in the US, Canada, UK, Latin, and India. Which is really the majority of global box office ex-China.
Speaker #9: And in those territories, we control and distribute all downstream ancillary rights. So those are, you ow, a very, significant portion of our revenue. For the rest of the , outside of the US and Canada, we do deploy a risk mitigation model where we license.
Speaker #9: We don't sell, but we license our rights various term lengths; we do get overages from those from our third-party partners. And given as John said, that since the company's been around since 2000, many of those rights are very significant portions are into our machine and being licensed by our s.
Speaker #9: some other notes on the rest of the , it was John mentioned we, we own them all, but more importantly, most of them, but also through self-distribution of rights and reversions, this is a key stat.
Speaker #9: 75% of the top 20 franchises we control and are licensing now or will so in the next few years, so those are the drivers of our library, and I think, we're really in good shape with that.
Speaker #7: Yeah, to wrap it up really, the, the bottom line is we own most of our library in perpetuity in both film and television, period.
Speaker #7: Okay. And then one final question for me that, that's super helpful. Jimmy, you talked about the impact in 1Q of some of last year's slate.
Speaker #7: can you quantify for us in any way kind how, how much fiscal 25 benefited from the fiscal 24 slate and, and how much the year-over-year impact would be since fiscal 26?
Speaker #7: You're, you're getting later windows from the fiscal 25 slate, if that makes sense.
Speaker #9: Yeah, there was, you ow, significant carryover in the prior year quarter from the 24 slate, as you noted. And the 25 slate, obviously, didn't have the same kind of carryover in Q1.
Speaker #9: you know, you're talking maybe 40, 50 million dollars if you really kind of, you know, ballpark that. And, you know, so we're, we're feeling good in the, in the fact we knew that was coming, so that was expected.
Speaker #9: We said we were back-end loaded. That was one of the reasons. And, and similarly, 't overlook, we had three releases this quarter including Ballerina, so we had the P&As.
Speaker #9: You probably had a $20 million uptick in terms of P&A. Relative to the prior year quarter where there were two releases. So, you ow, we saw that, and, factored it in, and I think it's in a lot of your projections, for those of you on the call, and it's a back-end loaded year.
Speaker #9: And when we get this 26 slate, which we're very proud of, rolling, we're onna have replenished the pipeline both film and TV, which is gonna really propel us into that solid growth in fiscal 27 we're talking about.
Speaker #9: And don't overlook the fact that Michael Jackson will release early in April of, of our fiscal 27, so there'll be some pre-spend on that in Q4 of 26, which we're factoring in.
Speaker #9: Again, propels us into 27; we've three tentpole films with Michael Jackson in April, Hunger Games in November, Resurrection in March, and we have a significant increase in our TV episodic deliveries including season two renewal.
Speaker #9: We're very excited about for the studio, which is moved from Q4 of 26 into 27 as well. So we where we are.
Speaker #7: Great. Thanks, everyone.
Speaker #9: Thank ou.
Speaker #6: The next question will come from Thomas Yee with Morgan Stanley. Please go head.
Speaker #10: Thanks so much. Hope you're well. I was hoping to revisit the strategic optionality that you were hoping to unlock with the separation and fully acknowledging you probably won't comment on any M&A rumors.
Speaker #10: I, I thought I'd just take a shot anyway and ask how the tenor or nature of conversations around, you know, being a
Speaker #10: participant of M&A has changed pre really feel, you know, good about or post-separation. Is, is there an increased sense of urgency there?
Speaker #9: look, I, I would say, the, the whole idea about the separation was to create optionality for both sides. I think that's exactly what's appening.
Speaker #9: I know, the Stars folks are looking at, at, at their various, potential paths, especially in this really disruptive and, and interesting ecosystem we're, we're dealing with.
Speaker #9: and, and obviously, so, you know, so are we. So I think the rationale was absolutely absolutely right. I would say, in the world we're , we're, we're the only really ma you know, major with the scale, you know, the significantly less than the other majors.
Speaker #9: And I would say, that does speak to, to the potential for us to look to figure out, a way to take advantage of our earnings power but without some of the overhead that we have.
Speaker #9: Now, viously, we are working every single day on overhead, and, and we are cutting it. We think we're ing a really good job on it.
Speaker #9: but I, I think that there's no doubt about it, that we're focused on, how to crystallize the value of our earnings power, of our library, of our, of our array of intellectual property, as I said in my remarks, it's pretty incredible.
Speaker #9: When I ok at the other companies and look the, the intellectual property, we have 30 different pieces of significant intellectual property already in, in development in so many different ways.
Speaker #9: And ancillary markets, in reaching out to this sort of new generation of Gen Z and Gen Alpha folks, different platforms, that we're able to take it, different merchandising and licensing opportunities.
Speaker #9: really 30 significant pieces. Plus, of intellectual property. So a-at the end of the day, know what our earnings power is. As Jimmy said, we've got a slate going three tentpoles in 27, three tentpoles in, in 28, and, and Kevin should probably double the deliveries of scripted, scripted television into next year, some, some of the shows were pushed back a little in, in s of delivery.
Speaker #9: and, and, and we're turning around and, and Craig and his, his team, are, are very proud to turn around the, the unscripted era, and you're gonna see the benefit that next year.
Speaker #9: So, we understand our earnings power, but also understand with the scale we have, that I think doing some kind of strategic, transaction down the road is something that's probably gonna be happening.
Speaker #9: think there's a lot of ways that could happen. And, h, we're pretty focused on it.
Speaker #10: Okay. That's super helpful. And then, as the film slate starts to line up and TV builds momentum on productions, Jimmy, can you just revisit the cash spending needs for the studio on a standalone basis?
Speaker #10: Is it still kind of around that 1.6, 1.7 run rate that we're oking at historically, and dovetailing that with just free cash flow and how to think about that for the year and conversion would be helpful.
Speaker #10: Thank you.
Speaker #9: Sure. Look, think on the content spend, there'll be a little less content spend. Just the cycle of productions a little less in fiscal 26, probably like 1.3, then more going back to that 1.5, 1.6 level as you go into fiscal 27.
Speaker #9: Keep in mind next quarter, which is the current quarter, right, Q2, we're in production on Hunger Games, we've got some prepping going on for Resurrection, of course, so be a little use of continuing use of cash into Q2.
Speaker #9: So I think on the free cash flow side of things, we're looking at a use of cash as we go from Q1, as you saw. Again, the P&A spend in Q1, as well as content spend going into Q2.
Speaker #9: And then mitigating the, use of cash as we go through the second half of fiscal 26 and then accelerating into positive free cash flow, into 27.
Speaker #9: A very strong conversion, again, once you set aside the timing of P&A spend, and the timing of the content spend, you know, you've got a really strong conversion factor, again, no real significant cash capex, you have some cash interest, but, the capability really to turn that, for into very strong, conversions.
Speaker #10: Thank ou so much.
Speaker #6: The next question will come from Omar Majais. With Wells Fargo, please go head.
Speaker #11: Good evening and thanks for the question. So first, John or Jimmy, I, I know this is a down year with Ballerina underperforming and Michael shifting to next year, but, but how, should we think about adjusted EBITDA for next year and beyond once you're back with a full slate?
Speaker #11: Just curious on how do you think about the earnings power of the business?
Speaker #8: Well, with regards to 27 without putting, you ow, specifics on it, I ink you can look back just more broadly about the earnings power of this company.
Speaker #8: And, you ow, you've seen we've ivered $300, $350 million adjusted EBITDA, we've got, if you really exclude the corporate overhead and look at it kind of on a gross basis, you're talking about, you ow, close to $500 million.
Speaker #8: So the earnings power is significant. I think we move into 27 like we said, we're looking more specifically at, as we frame very solid two-year growth, right, coming off the fiscal 25.
Speaker #8: So I would just reiterate that as, we've talked about the tentpoles, we've talked about the episodic deliveries. I would also say we're significantly saving on cost across the board, all categories, G&A, you're gonna start to see that, on our distribution, on our marketing, across the board.
Speaker #8: So, likewise, as we go throughout 26 and into 27, you're onna see cost savings also as a contributing factor.
Speaker #11: That, that's very pful. And maybe along those same lines of, of thinking, y-you have a lot of strategic value here. when looking beyond the poison pill, how do you think about the asset value of the business on, some of the part bases?
Speaker #11: Just curious how internally you guys are thinking about, about the business, and, and any color you can ide on that, that would be great.
Speaker #11: Thanks.
Speaker #8: Yeah. look, I think if you look at the history of the, studio business, you, you ow that the value of that business is typically been the value of the library and the value of the franchises.
Speaker #8: and if, if you do some simple math, you'd say, well, we're, we're, as Jimmy has said before, our, cash flow off of our library revenue is over 50%.
Speaker #8: And if we're close to a billion dollars on a, gotta believe we're gonna continue growing it with all of the, movies and TV shows we have in the pipeline.
Speaker #8: If you're looking at a billion dollars and over 50%, you're talking about $500 million dollars. With a multiple again, looking historically, you've seen multiples well in advance of 15 times.
Speaker #8: So if you start with that, you can do the math, Omar. add to that the, the value of the franchise themselves, the value of, 75% of Three Arts, the value of some of our other minority, interests, and value of the pipeline we've put in, in terms the ancillaries, the, the, Broadway shows, the, video games, you ow, all of that ancillary, business that we've been developing for the last three or four years.
Speaker #8: And I'm, I'm, I'm not gonna put a number on it, but I would say that would be indicative to me of how you would value, some of the parts.
Speaker #11: Very helpful. Appreciate it, guys. Thanks.
Speaker #6: The next question will come from Peter Cepino with Wolf Research. Please go head.
Speaker #12: Hi. Jack stayed on for, Peter. First, I was curious with fast platforms gaining market share, is fast or a lower cost service like Howdy incremental to monetizing our back catalog of IP?
Speaker #12: We noticed you recently published some full-length films on your YouTube channel. I'd be curious to hear how that's going.
Speaker #11: Great. Thanks, Peter. yeah, I, I would say, first of all, we, we look at all these businesses as not being cannibalistic. We will always license first.
Speaker #11: So these are rights that, we're very careful to make sure that we do not do anything that would, affect our licensing business, and they're really starting to grow to a level that, is meaningful.
Speaker #11: If you just look at our Amazon add-on channels and you look at our Fast, we've gone from probably a 10 to 15 million dollar, you know, number in fiscal 23 up to about 60 this year.
Speaker #11: And it continues to grow dramatically. So I think overall, we feel it's a strategic business. We really like what we did with Roku because nobody's really in that space.
Speaker #11: It's a very inexpensive space. It's $3. Easy add-on. You look at Roku with $61 million active users, we think that's the right spot to be.
Speaker #11: and we think 's a, a really interesting thing to only have two other partners. So we can all three of us share in the upside with Roku.
Speaker #12: Thank ou.
Speaker #6: The next question will come from Alan Gold with Loop Capital. Please go head.
Speaker #13: thank you. Question about the film strategy. a question about the film strategy. How do you see the marketplace changing right ? Are you gonna get back to your typical portfolio of 10 to 12, you know, mid-range releases per year?
Speaker #13: And Adam, I don't think your first film that you started, that you greenlit, has even come out yet. What changes once we see films that are directly from you?
Speaker #13: Thank ou.
Speaker #9: thanks for the estion. You know, first of all, I would say that, I think 10 to 12 is a fair number, but we're gonna scale up or down depending on the size of the larger films that we're working from.
Speaker #9: at we're seeing in the marketplace right now is that well-made films based on IP do have a significant advantage. And as John just said, we've got so much great IP to work with now at the studio.
Speaker #9: Some of those are larger scale films like we've spoken about with Hunger Games or the John Wick franchise. Or, or, or things like that, Resurrection, but also when you talk Saw, and films like that, they don't require a significant expenditure for us to be able to deliver a great film and some great profitability for the studio.
Speaker #9: So, we are trying to lean into IP. We're onna we're d we're getting screenplays in now on both Naruto and Monopoly. there's a lot of other IP that we haven't yet begun to monetize that, that, that's available to us.
Speaker #9: So we're excited about that. As it relates to what's, what's gonna be different, you are correct, the first film, that was greenlit, under the new team is The Long Walk in September.
Speaker #9: And as, as I think I stated previously, we're looking to, to make films that can be creatively great. we're looking to make films that have a clear marketing point of view, and we're looking to make films at the right price point.
Speaker #9: And I'm, I'm very proud of what those first films represent in that regard. Every single one them, the price point is exactly where we believe it needs to be to create, real profitability.
Speaker #9: And, and to mitigate risk, the talent making these films is fantastic. Our screening results, have shown that audiences are loving this batch of films.
Speaker #9: and so, you know, it is still the motion picture business. Each film comes with some degree of risk, but we're excited that creatively, from a marketability standpoint and from a price standpoint, we've got some really great films coming down the pipeline.
Speaker #6: I'd like to just ask a quick follow-up there. I know horror has been a genre that's been very successful for Lionsgate in the past, especially all the "Saw" films.
Speaker #6: But it seems like the horror films are just getting much more expensive as a lot of the major studios are also getting into it.
Speaker #6: Can we still produce horror films as inexpensively and hope to have that kind performance you've had in the past?
Speaker #9: Yeah, I don't think that I don't think that, it is necessarily the case that these films have to be expensive. some other studios have had real success with modestly budgeted horror films.
Speaker #9: Long Legs was a modestly budgeted horror film. This Last Terrifier film was a very modestly budgeted horror film. so while I think there is room because horror has been able to deliver significant grosses, one can justify more expensive horror films today than ou might have been able to do 5 or 10 years ago.
Speaker #9: But by no means has it eliminated the opportunity for lower budget horror.
Speaker #7: Okay. Thank ou.
Speaker #9: Thank you.
Speaker #6: Our last and final question today will come from Matthew Hargan with Benchmark. Please go head.
Speaker #14: Oh, thank you. I was curious if you could update us on the "Twilight" animated series for Netflix, and is that indicative of you might look at doing something else on the animated side?
Speaker #14: And, and obviously, it's a great opportunity to be involved with Netflix, but I don't think you've done that much animation, so kind of what are the gifts and takes there?
Speaker #14: And I was gonna ask about, Monopoly, you know, Adam, addressed it saying you have a screenwriter pair. But is, is Margot Robbie's still involved with that or any other comments on who else might be involved with that?
Speaker #14: Thank you.
Speaker #9: hey, it's Adam. I'll just quickly handle Monopoly before turning it over to Kevin. so Goldstein and Daley are the, the writers have, have delivered a first draft of the screenplay.
Speaker #9: We're making revisions now. They are very, very excited as are we, as is Hasbro, and yes, lucky chap, Margot and her company are actively involved creatively as producers on the film.
Speaker #9: So we are, we are well downfield on this first step in the creative process. And I think we are excited about the possibility of getting this movie into production in the near future.
Speaker #8: it's Kevin speaking on the Twilight animated. Yes, we're working with Netflix, who've had a of experience in multiple shows, including Blue Light Samurai and many other, adult animation, grown-up primetime animation.
Speaker #8: we've had an amazing, experience developing the scripts. We had an, an incredible table read, with a full cast assembled recently. We've been seeing some early animatics.
Speaker #8: Stephanie Meyer and her team are producers at both Temple Hill and Picture Star and Lionsgate. Are all, very enthused about what that is. And, you know, engaging with this incredible IP that continues years after the last movie came to uplift library sales, and fuel our experiences, and other parts of the, the Lionsgate ecosystem just makes this animation idea all the more powerful.
Speaker #8: And obviously, as much as we can do with Stephanie and Twilight, we want to, and she's passionate about animation. Thus, we are as well.
Speaker #8: And, we're looking forward to getting it, o-on the air.
Speaker #11: Great. Thank you.
Speaker #6: This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Miley Shaw for an enclosing remarks. Please go head.
Speaker #15: Thanks, operator. everyone, please refer to the press releases and events tab under the estor relations section of our website for a discussion of certain non-GAAP forward-looking measures discussed on this call.
Speaker #15: Thank you.