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.
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 NBCUniversal 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.
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.
source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Gate_Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and distribution agreements. Its headquarters and private screening room were located in Santa Monica, California. It also had an office in TriBeCa, Lower Manhattan, New York City.The company owned the home video rights to the film libraries of Republic Pictures, and Carolco Pictures. They also owned Family Home Entertainment (FHE), and its motion picture subdivision, FHE Pictures for a first-feature film Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.
Artisan's releases included Requiem for a Dream, Pi, Grizzly Falls, Killing Zoe, National Lampoon's Van Wilder, The Blair Witch Project, Novocaine, and Startup.com.
In May 2003, Artisan and Microsoft jointly announced the first release of a high definition DVD, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Extreme Edition). The release was a promotion for the Windows Media version 9 format; it could only be played on a personal computer with Windows XP. Artisan had released the movie in 2002 on D-VHS.
In the summer 2003, Marvel Enterprises place an offer for Artisan.
After Lionsgate agreed to acquire Artisan in 2003, video releases through Artisan have now been rereleased under the Lionsgate banner.
source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artisan_Entertainment
Bad Robot
Bad Robot Productions (formerly known as only Bad Robot) is a production company owned by J. J. Abrams. It is responsible for the television series Alias, Lost, What About Brian, Fringe, Six Degrees, Undercovers, Person of Interest (2011) and the feature length films Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Super 8 (2011), Star Trek (2009) and Cloverfield (2008).Bad Robot was originally part of Touchstone Television, but has moved with J. J. Abrams to Paramount Pictures, and Universal Studios, after his contract with Touchstone had expired in 2006. Bad Robot produced Lost in association with ABC Studios, formerly Touchstone Television. The two companies jointly produced Six Degrees and What About Brian until their respective cancellations.
Abrams is Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, and Bryan Burk serves as Executive Vice President of the company.
The production logo has appeared since 2001, featuring a red rectangular headed robot running through a meadow silhouetted until it appears suddenly in front of the camera, followed by "BAD ROBOT!" in a voice-over by two of Abrams' children, Henry and Gracie Abrams.
Bad Robot Productions (formerly known as only Bad Robot) is a production company owned by J. J. Abrams. It is responsible for the television series Alias, Lost, What About Brian, Fringe, Six Degrees, Undercovers, Person of Interest (2011) and the feature length films Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Super 8 (2011), Star Trek (2009) and Cloverfield (2008).Bad Robot was originally part of Touchstone Television, but has moved with J. J. Abrams to Paramount Pictures, and Universal Studios, after his contract with Touchstone had expired in 2006. Bad Robot produced Lost in association with ABC Studios, formerly Touchstone Television. The two companies jointly produced Six Degrees and What About Brian until their respective cancellations.
Abrams is Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, and Bryan Burk serves as Executive Vice President of the company.
The production logo has appeared since 2001, featuring a red rectangular headed robot running through a meadow silhouetted until it appears suddenly in front of the camera, followed by "BAD ROBOT!" in a voice-over by two of Abrams' children, Henry and Gracie Abrams.
source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Robot_Productions
The Asylum
The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, usually direct-to-video productions. The studio has produced titles that capitalize on productions by major studios; these titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press.
The Asylum was founded by former Village Roadshow executives David Rimawi, Sherri Strain, and director David Michael Latt in 1997. The company focused on producing straight-to-video low-budget films, usually in the horror genre, but were unable to find a market due to competition from major studios, such as Lions Gate Entertainment. In 2005, the company produced a low-budget adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, which was released in the same year as Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the same material. Blockbuster Inc. ordered 100,000 copies of The Asylum's adaptation, a significantly larger order than any of the company's previous releases, resulting in Latt and Rimawi reconsidering their business model.
The Asylum work schedule is typically four months from decision to create a title to finished product, with the script finished within four to six weeks. Pre-production is afforded only a few weeks, production is "a couple of weeks" (In the case of Mega Piranha, it took longer because it was shot in Belize). Filming takes an average of 12 to 15 pages of the script a day.
The Asylum's usual budget for a production is reportedly "well under a million dollars", and it typically breaks even after about three months. The Asylum has never lost money on a film. The studio's productions have been called B movies and "mockbusters". Latt prefers the term "tie-ins" to "mockbusters", stating that The Asylum's productions, even those that capitalize on major releases, contain original stories. Latt states that the studio plans its productions around the word of mouth of the financial prospects of upcoming films. The studio's films are usually released on video shortly before the theatrical release of a major studio film with similar themes or storylines.
The Asylum has also produced films with strong religious themes. For example, The Apocalypse was initially developed as a straightforward disaster film in the style of Deep Impact, but Latt states that certain buyers wanted the company to develop a religious film. As a result, the company consulted priests and rabbis in order to incorporate faith-based elements. The division Faith Films was created in order to distribute titles with such themes. Sunday School Musical was produced after The Asylum staff attended a seminar for marketing to a Christian audience, and the seminar's host suggested that the perfect film would be a Christian version of High School Musical.
The Asylum productions sometimes feature more overt sexuality or graphic violence than their major studio counterparts, because The Asylum's releases are not in competition with films rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America. Rolf Potts of The New York Times described Transmorphers as having "no recognizable actors, no merchandising tie-ins and a garbled sound mix. Also unlike Transformers, it has cheap special effects and a subplot involving lesbians."
The 2008 release Death Racers featured the hip hop group Insane Clown Posse and wrestler Scott "Raven" Levy in major roles. The 2011 release Mega Python vs. Gatoroid starred Debbie Gibsonand Tiffany.In 2007, similarities between the distributor's titles and those of major studios were reported. For example, the film Transmorphers bears a number of similarities to the film Transformers, which was released theatrically two days after the release of Transmorphers. According to Latt, "I'm not trying to dupe anybody. I'm just trying to get my films watched. Other people do tie-ins all the time; they’re just better at being subtle about it. Another studio might make a giant robot movie that ties into the Transformers release and call it Robot Wars. We’ll call ours Transmorphers." In 2008, 20th Century Fox threatened legal action against The Asylum over The Day the Earth Stopped, a film capitalizing on The Day the Earth Stood Still.
The Asylum is an American film studio and distributor which focuses on producing low-budget, usually direct-to-video productions. The studio has produced titles that capitalize on productions by major studios; these titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press.The Asylum was founded by former Village Roadshow executives David Rimawi, Sherri Strain, and director David Michael Latt in 1997. The company focused on producing straight-to-video low-budget films, usually in the horror genre, but were unable to find a market due to competition from major studios, such as Lions Gate Entertainment. In 2005, the company produced a low-budget adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, which was released in the same year as Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the same material. Blockbuster Inc. ordered 100,000 copies of The Asylum's adaptation, a significantly larger order than any of the company's previous releases, resulting in Latt and Rimawi reconsidering their business model.
The Asylum work schedule is typically four months from decision to create a title to finished product, with the script finished within four to six weeks. Pre-production is afforded only a few weeks, production is "a couple of weeks" (In the case of Mega Piranha, it took longer because it was shot in Belize). Filming takes an average of 12 to 15 pages of the script a day.
The Asylum's usual budget for a production is reportedly "well under a million dollars", and it typically breaks even after about three months. The Asylum has never lost money on a film. The studio's productions have been called B movies and "mockbusters". Latt prefers the term "tie-ins" to "mockbusters", stating that The Asylum's productions, even those that capitalize on major releases, contain original stories. Latt states that the studio plans its productions around the word of mouth of the financial prospects of upcoming films. The studio's films are usually released on video shortly before the theatrical release of a major studio film with similar themes or storylines.
The Asylum has also produced films with strong religious themes. For example, The Apocalypse was initially developed as a straightforward disaster film in the style of Deep Impact, but Latt states that certain buyers wanted the company to develop a religious film. As a result, the company consulted priests and rabbis in order to incorporate faith-based elements. The division Faith Films was created in order to distribute titles with such themes. Sunday School Musical was produced after The Asylum staff attended a seminar for marketing to a Christian audience, and the seminar's host suggested that the perfect film would be a Christian version of High School Musical.
The Asylum productions sometimes feature more overt sexuality or graphic violence than their major studio counterparts, because The Asylum's releases are not in competition with films rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America. Rolf Potts of The New York Times described Transmorphers as having "no recognizable actors, no merchandising tie-ins and a garbled sound mix. Also unlike Transformers, it has cheap special effects and a subplot involving lesbians."
The 2008 release Death Racers featured the hip hop group Insane Clown Posse and wrestler Scott "Raven" Levy in major roles. The 2011 release Mega Python vs. Gatoroid starred Debbie Gibsonand Tiffany.In 2007, similarities between the distributor's titles and those of major studios were reported. For example, the film Transmorphers bears a number of similarities to the film Transformers, which was released theatrically two days after the release of Transmorphers. According to Latt, "I'm not trying to dupe anybody. I'm just trying to get my films watched. Other people do tie-ins all the time; they’re just better at being subtle about it. Another studio might make a giant robot movie that ties into the Transformers release and call it Robot Wars. We’ll call ours Transmorphers." In 2008, 20th Century Fox threatened legal action against The Asylum over The Day the Earth Stopped, a film capitalizing on The Day the Earth Stood Still.
My Chosen Institutions
I have chosen Lionsgate as the production company for my film. I felt that The Asylum would be an interesting option because for my film because of the low budget style. They seem to specialise in low budget films and had success which would be extremely useful for production of my film. However, I went against choosing them as a lot of their films aren't very well known and seem to be too similar to films from major institutions which seems to lead to legal issues. Asylum used to be unable to create horror films due to competion with larger distrubuters such as Lionsgate, so this showed to me that Lionsgate was more successful. I chose Lionsgate because they haven't created a found footage film, apart from the Blair Witch Project which was produced by Artisan before they bought the company. Because my film has the same themes as The Blair Witch Project, I think the audience will be intrigued by Lionsgate sort of re-releasing a success after they have bought Artisan. I think my audience would find it interesting to see Lionsgate do a found footage genre film as they have such highly credited horror films of other sub-genres such as SAW. I also want to incorporate Bad Robot as they have links to Lionsgate through Paramount. Bad Robot had success with Cloverfield, so I thought it would be a good idea to inocprorate their skills in found footage style films with Lionsgate's skills in horror. I feel that my audience will find these institutions interesting put together and if they were actually to produce my film, I think it would turn out well.
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