Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 739 - 536: Lilly Company Shares

"Rust and Bone" was released in North America for 26 days, slowly breaking through $100 million at the box office, with a current gross of $102 million. This film is also the fourth movie from Lionsgate Films this year to surpass $100 million at the North American box office.

The first was "The Expendables 2", with a current North American box office of $165 million and a global box office of $452 million. The second comedy "Identity Thief" earned $158 million in North America and $215 million globally.

The third is "Now You See Me," which was released two weeks after "Rust and Bone," and has a current North American box office of $112 million. This film performed relatively well overseas, with around $195 million, and easily surpassed $300 million globally. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

In the first half of the year, Lionsgate Films released 12 movies, with 4 breaking $100 million and 8 surpassing $50 million in North American box office revenues. Currently, only "A Fighting Chance," which the company released on behalf, has lost money, enviable results that make many peers shed tears of jealousy.

By June, there was another movie with production involvement from Lionsgate Films being released, namely "World War Z" in partnership with David Ellison, Paramount Pictures, and Plan B Entertainment, with distribution handled by Paramount Pictures.

Within eight days of release, it surpassed $100 million at the North American box office, with a global gross over $300 million. Although it didn't reach the box office figures of "Iron Man 3" or "Fast & Furious 6," the $50 million investment from Lionsgate Films will not suffer losses and might profit by ten to twenty million.

Compared to other releases, "The Hangover Part 3," "After Earth," and "The Lone Ranger" became box office flops.

"The Hangover Part 3," produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, had a production budget of $103 million but only earned $112 million domestically and slightly over $240 million internationally. Although it won't incur losses, its performance was far below expectations compared to the previous two installments.

"After Earth," produced by Sony Columbia Pictures, cost $130 million to make and earned just $60.52 million in North America and $150 million overseas in the four weeks since release, with projected losses of no less than $50 million.

Among the recent releases, the biggest financial failure is undoubtedly Disney Pictures' "The Lone Ranger."

This film stars the adventurous Johnny Thomp, is directed by Gore Verbinski of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, and is produced by Hollywood's top producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

With a production budget of $215 million, the investment scale and cast lineup set high expectations before its release, anticipating box office results not far from "Iron Man 3" and perhaps contending for the year's box office champion.

However, after its mid-June release, its box office performance was disastrously poor.

In its first three days, it grossed only $30.11 million from 3,904 theaters, and after two weeks, North American box office revenues were only $74.35 million. This was even after Disney Pictures' aggressive marketing and promotion, just to attain the seventy-plus million revenue, which didn't even compare to the opening of "Iron Man 3."

The film is expected to gross around $80 million in North America, while international box office has just barely surpassed $100 million.

"Complete Movie" magazine predicts that this film will cause an estimated $200 million loss to Disney Pictures.

Simultaneously, due to the poor box office performance of the film, there are reports that Jerry Bruckheimer, the golden producer behind the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, had a falling out with his long-time studio Disney, signaling an end to their collaboration lasting nearly 20 years.

The predicament of this film is similar to "Windtalkers," which led to the bankruptcy of MGM. If not for Disney's substantial size and financial resilience, a $200 million loss would be a fatal blow to any film company below the 'Big Seven.'

Currently, among the Big Six Studios, three have incurred losses from their film productions, while the succession of hits from Lionsgate Films has forced peers and the media to acknowledge Lionsgate's prudent performance in film production and distribution, a rare achievement.

Thanks to the strong performance of films released by Lionsgate Films in the first half of the year, along with the rebound in Netflix stock prices, Lionsgate's current market value has been hyped by Wall Street to between $2.6 and $3 billion.

Although it still falls short of the 'Big Six,' it's not much less than MGM before its bankruptcy.

"The Hollywood Reporter" claims that if it continues like this, Lionsgate Films might replace MGM and Columbia Pictures to become the new giant in the Hollywood film industry. The stable rise of Lionsgate has intensified competition among major film companies, increasing pressure on the executives of the Big Six Studios.

Consequently, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, ABRY Partners Fund, AIG Fund, and others have launched acquisition bids for Lionsgate Films.

They are prepared to offer no less than $3 billion to buy Lionsgate or a portion of its shares. If successful, Link and Ivanka will remain in their senior positions.

Responding to the acquisition bids, Link and Ivanka, after holding a board meeting, chose to decline, primarily because they don't lack money. Having an additional billion in cash isn't necessary, and Lionsgate Films is a golden goose providing them with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue each year. Selling would not be cost-effective.

However, currently, with Lionsgate Films in a good market position, in order to optimize the equity structure and make a quick profit, Link has offered 10% of the shares for external financing.

But just as the news was released, former Lionsgate shareholder Carl Icahn expressed his willingness to pay $350 million for this share.

Carl Icahn is the founder of Icahn Enterprises investment company, with a net worth of $19.7 billion, ranking 69th on the Forbes list, and is also known by the famous moniker 'The Real Wolf of Wall Street.'

After consideration, Link agreed to the deal.

His shareholding in Lionsgate Films dropped from 75.3% to 65.3%, and he gained an additional $350 million in funds. Together with the revenue from two boxing matches, albums, endorsement deals, and film salaries, he now owns $600 million in cash.