New Lionsgate Studios Swings To The Black, Revenue Pops In First Quarterly Report As Standalone Company

The newly solo Lionsgate Studios swung to a profit last quarter as motion picture revenue surged. The numbers are its first since splitting with Starz.

Net income of $21.9 million for Lionsgate’s fiscal fourth quarter ended in March compares with a $47 million loss the year earlier. Total revenue popped to $1.1 billion from $880 million. Shares are all over the map rose in after-market trading, rising over 4% to pass $7, then easing.

Trailing 12-month library revenue was $956 million, up 8% year-on-year and notched $340 million for the quarter on licensing sales of The Rookie to Disney+ and The Chosen to Amazon Prime.

Motion Picture segment profit surged 65% to $135.3 million — the highest in 10 years — driven by the box office success of the midbudget films Den of Thieves 2: Pantera and Flight Risk, as well as more non-theatrical content deliveries, robust library demand and lower P&A spend. Revenue jumped 28% to $526.4 million.

In Television Production, revenue increased 16% to $543.3 million while segment profit decreased to $40.6 million. Revenue growth was driven by a substantial increase in episodic deliveries relative to last year’s strike-impacted March quarter, the company said, while the earnings decline reflected a difficult comparison with a library sale of content in last year’s fourth quarter.

Lionsgate Entertainment completed the full separation of its studio and Starz businesses into two standalone, publicly-traded companies on May 7 after years of starts and stops. The idea was to realize more value for shareholders.

Starz shares are pushing $17 bucks since breaking off to trade under the stock symbol STRZ. Lionsgate, trading as LION, houses film and television studios with brands from Twilight to John Wick to Hunger Games, a 20,000-plus title film and TV library, and talent management and production company 3 Arts Entertainment. 

“We are pleased to report a strong quarter despite a difficult operating environment,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer.  “The same strengths that drove the quarter – another outsized library performance, a diversified motion picture business model, fiscal discipline and the ability to deliver premium television programming to a changing mix of buyers – will continue to be the catalysts of our success as a standalone studio with the ability to create significant incremental value for our shareholders.” 

Feltheimer and other executives will be hosting a call with analysts at 5 ET.

Starz senior management led by CEO Jeff Hirsch will discuss key metrics from its fourth quarter fiscal 2025 on May 29.