Lionsgate Reports Strong Q1 Theatrical Revenue Despite Company’s Net Loss

Film revenue increased to $397.8 million thanks to “John Wick: Chapter 3” performance

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Lionsgate

Lionsgate reported revenue for the fiscal first-quarter on Thursday that was above Wall Street expectations led by a strong quarter for its film division due to the performance of “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum.”

The company, however, had a net loss of $54 million for the quarter, or a loss of 25 cents per share. Lionsgate’s adjusted per-share loss was 2 cents. Analysts tracking the company via Yahoo Finance forecasted the media and entertainment company to report a loss of 25 cents per share.

“We’re pleased to report strong financial results in the quarter and a great start to the fiscal year,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in a statement. “All of our businesses are performing well.  Our television group had its best development season ever, ‘John Wick: Chapter 3’ reaffirmed our thesis that mid-priced action films have a valuable place in the market, and STARZ achieved strong growth in its domestic OTT business while continuing to expand its premium SVOD platform around the world.”

Starz domestic OTT had its third best subscriber growth quarter ever, increasing 400,000 to 4.4 million, Lionsgate said in a statement. Overall, Starz ended the quarter with 26.5 million total global subscribers, up 2.6 million from the prior year quarter.

Overall revenue at Lionsgate was $963.6 million, up from $932.7 million during the same quarter a year ago and above analysts’ expectation for revenue of $943.4 million.

Lionsgate had been relying on the first quarter being a big one for a film division going through what leadership called a “repositioning.” Film revenue increased 8.9% in the quarter to $397.8 million due to the strong performance of “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum,” which has grossed more than $320 million worldwide at the box office.

Lionsgate’s film profits, however, declined from the prior year quarter to $7.6 million. The company said the decline was due to an increase in P&A costs associated with a greater number of theatrical releases during the quarter compared to the prior year period.

Revenue for the media networks increased 4.9% to $372.4 million driven by the OTT subscriber growth, and TV production revenue came in at $279.8 million for the quarter and were roughly in line with the prior year quarter.

Shares of Lionsgate were up nearly 3% in after-hours trade on Thursday.

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