Lionsgate revenues roar

(June 1, 2009)  A Variety Magazine article by Dave McNary that talks about Lionsgate’s jump in revenue 1Q2009.  Interestingly enough, Tyler Perry’s “Madea Goes to Jail” helped boost the studios earnings.

(EXCERPT)  Driven by strong box office, homevid and library sales, Lionsgate reported its second-highest quarterly revenue of $463.2 million for its fourth quarter ended March 31 — but that wasn’t enough to save it from a $163 million loss for the fiscal year.

The 2009 revenues were up 8% but the loss was more than double the $74 million loss in fiscal 2008.

Lionsgate said the fiscal-year loss was due primarily to underperformance of its film slate during its second and third quarters and a $36.1 million charge taken on its DVD distribution of Hit Entertainment’s family entertainment titles.

"Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail"

“We ended our fiscal year on a strong note, with record box office in the first calendar quarter,” Feltheimer said. “We are also pleased that we could drive library, home entertainment and television revenues to record levels in such a challenging market environment. We believe that continued strength in our core businesses coupled with meaningful contributions from many of our recent investments and lower theatrical marketing costs position us for strong positive metrics in fiscal 2010.”

For the 2009 fiscal year, motion picture revenue jumped 17% to $223.3 million, propelled by fourth-quarter titles including “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail,” ”My Bloody Valentine” and “The Haunting in Connecticut.”

Read the full article at VARIETY

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Hollywood Hiring Freeze Spreads

(April 14, 2009) A Variety article by Marc Grazer and Justin Kroll speaks to the economic pinch that Tinseltown is feeling.  Apparently the odd jobs are drying up.

(EXCERPT) Hollywood is feeling the chills of a hiring freeze.

Jobs that the creative community once relied on to stay afloat during rough times are themselves starting to dry up in this recession.

That includes everything from directing assignments at commercial production houses to positions at restaurants, bars, hotels and retailers.

Even temp agencies have little to offer job seekers.

“Most employers now are getting rid of someone and, instead of calling us, they are just having someone else they employ do two or more jobs,” said one temp agent, who hasn’t seen the entertainment industry this deep in the doldrums since the period after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Even then the job market wasn’t as bleak as it is now, the agent said. “I’m getting calls every day and am simply unable to fill everybody’s needs,” she said.

That’s bad news for the hundreds of staffers who have been handed pinkslips at the major studios, networks, tenpercenteries and various shingles around town over the past year.

It’s even worse for people who are struggling to break into the biz.

Breaking into the biz has never been easy.  Now the entry level ranks are being flooded from below (newbies coming to town) and above (professionals losing their jobs).  So instead of going to L.A. to fetch coffee and drycleaning for two years…maybe it’s time to make that ultra-low-budget feature or award-winning short at home.

The full article can be read at Variety

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AMG To Become First 3-D Network

(April 14, 2009) This Variety article by David Cohen takes us into the near future of TV’s rise to a 3D network.  I know that in a world where some of us still shoot with a Sony PD-150 from time to time that this all seems lightyears ahead of us.  But it’s always good to keep one eye on the horizon.

(EXCERPT)  The seeds of the nation’s first 3-D broadcast network have been planted, repping a small step for television, but a giant leap for 3-D.

Signet Intl. Holdings, a publicly traded company led by former NBC and PBS exec Tom Donaldson and boxing promoter Ernie Letiziano, is buying AMG TV, a modestly sized net that feeds syndicated programs to some 200 terrestrial station affiliates, some of them carrying programming only part of the day.

Simultaneously, Signet has pacted with Kerner Broadcast Corp. for exclusive use of Kerner’s 3-D TV technology. Kerner, a spinoff from Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic, is also taking an equity position in Signet.

“We fully plan to have, as soon as we can acquire the library, the first full-time 3-D network in the country,” Donaldson told Daily Variety.

Donaldson said as part of the deal, the company expects to receive a capital infusion of around $14 million, to be used for personnel expansion, technical development and an advertising and PR campaign.

Currrent set-top boxes for cable and satellite aren’t equipped for 3-D, though many TVs already sold are technically 3-D ready.

To that end, Kerner plans to introduce two solutions: an add-on box for cable and satellite subscribers; and an “enhancement” that will turn any HD television into a 3-D TV for about $50, including the cost of glasses.

Glasses, hmmm.  Don’t like the sound of where that’s headed.  But anyway, for the full article check out Variety

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Holiday Brings Box Office Boost

(JAN 01, 2009) A Variety article by Pamela McClintock with some post-Holiday box office analysis.  The full article can be read HERE.

(EXCERPT) The Christmas box office has turned into a cash cow for a diverse litter of titles, guaranteeing that ticket sales for 2008 will match or exceed last year’s record-breaking haul of $9.62 billion.

“Marley,” produced by Fox 2000 and New Regency, was one of five titles opening nationwide on Christmas Day. All but one — “The Spirit” — are collecting plenty of coin and seeing the sort of midweek grosses that can make the week between Christmas and New Year’s the most lucrative stretch of the year.

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