Lionsgate Enters into Alliance with Spyglass Media Group

Lionsgate has acquired a slate of feature films from the Spyglass Media Group, taking a 20 percent stake in the group and inking a multiyear first-look television deal.

Spyglass Media Group’s assets include the latest installment of the Scream blockbuster horror franchise, the movie The Upside, the fashion competition series Project Runway and the revival of the Hellraiser franchise.

The library titles acquired by Lionsgate span a broad range of movies, including Fruitvale Station, The King’s Speech, Scream 4, Scary Movie 5, Spy Kids 4, Paddington, Silver Linings Playbook, Lee Daniel’s The Butler and, adding to the company’s portfolio of Quentin Tarantino titles, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds and The Hateful Eight.

Gary Barber will continue to lead Spyglass as its chairman and CEO, and Spyglass’ senior leadership team will remain in their current roles.

“This agreement continues to grow our valuable portfolio of IP while partnering us with Gary Barber, one of the leading entrepreneurs and content creators in the business,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer. “It is a win/win deal that creates significant incremental value for both companies while continuing to add to our global content distribution platform at a time when the demand for premium content is greater than ever.”

“I am grateful for the steadfast support from our strategic investors and am thrilled to align with Jon Feltheimer, Michael Burns and all our partners at Lionsgate as we look forward to expanding our relationship in creating great content and exploring strategic opportunities together in the marketplace,” said Barber.

“Two years ago, we were excited to team up with Gary and have him do what he does best—build Spyglass Media Group into a global premium content company and, in short order, increase shareholder value. Once again, he successfully exceeded those challenges, and we are delighted to continue the journey with him,” said Spyglass’ strategic investors: Andy Mitchell, founder, CEO and managing partner of Lantern Capital Partners; Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group; Tarak Ben Ammar, chairman of Eagle Pictures; and Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld Group.