Lionsgate expands in India, teams up with PVR Pictures

Lionsgate recently announced that it has collaborated with PVR Pictures, which is one of the leading multiplex chains in India that operates 846 screens in 176 cinemas in 71 cities. This will allow Lionsgate to bring in a big theatrical Hollywood slate to India in 2023.

The first movie that it is releasing under this contract is Plane (Jan 27) starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter. Other films lined up include John Wick: Chapter 4 starring Keanu Reeves, The Hunger Games – The Ballad of Songbird & Snakes, White Bird: A Wonder Story featuring Gillian Anderson and Helen Mirren, comedy-drama About My Father, action-thriller Bricklayer and many more.

With Indians shifting their preferences to Hollywood movies, it is expected that this strong pipeline of movies could gain massive footfalls at the theatres and aid Lionsgate’s top line.

PVR is also in talks with Inox, another big multiplex chain in India to merge the two businesses into one. This might expose Lionsgate to another 169 multiplexes and 730 screens in 74 cities of the country, allowing it to further expand its reach, if the deal goes through.

Lionsgate faces competition despite strong movie slate
Lionsgate is taking initiatives to expand and grow in various developing and booming economies like India. Per Statista, revenues in the Indian cinema tickets segment are projected to reach $416.40 million in 2023, indicating an annual growth rate of 2.63%, which provides a big opportunity for Lionsgate to make business.

However Lionsgate’s Motion Picture segment has been posing serious threat from other production units such as Walt Disney DIS that has been capturing huge audience with movies like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panda: Wakanda Forever that made $411 million and $433 million respectively at box office.

Paramount PARA too gained immense traction recently with the release of Top Gun Maverick that recorded $718 million at the box office globally besides Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that made $190 million

Such competitions could be the reason of Lionsgate’s revenue decline in its Motion Picture segment that fell by 32% to $224.0 million.

These competitions are likely to continue in 2023 as well with Disney’s upcoming movies such as The Little Mermaid , Elemental, The Marvels and Paramount’s releases like Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts that could gain immense traction and hinder growth at Lionsgate.

Shares of Lionsgate have plunged 68.4% over the last one year against the Zacks Consumer Discretionary space that declined 34.1%. Zacks Equity Research