Breaking Dawn Part 2 Tickets

Lionsgate Buys Summit Entertainment for $412.5 Million

20 Comments January 23, 2012 by Filed Under: Featured Stories, Lions Gate, Summit Entertainment, Twilight

Last week, Lions Gate purchased Summit Entertainment for (insert Dr. Evil’s voice) $412.5 Million. Mwhahahaha!

From LA Times:

Bringing Hollywood’s two biggest independent film studios and the blockbuster young adult franchises “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games” into one powerful entity, Lions Gate Entertainment has agreed to acquire Summit Entertainment for $412.5 million in cash and stock.

The two Santa Monica-based companies have engaged in on-and-off merger talks since late 2008 as Lions Gate has sought to bolster its library of film and TV properties and Summit’s investors have tried to find a way to cash in on the lightning-in-a-bottle success of its “Twilight” movie series, which has grossed $2.5 billion worldwide over four films.

The acquisition will provide a windfall to Summit’s investors, among them Ebay co-founder Jeff Skoll’s film company Participant Media and private equity fund operator Suhail Rizvi’s Rizvi Traverse Management. Summit’s investors previously received a $200-million dividend as part of a recapitalization in early 2011.

—–

In an announcement issued (last) Friday, Lions Gate said the majority of the purchase price would be funded by cash on hand at Summit. The rest will be paid for by $55 million of Lions Gate’s cash reserves, $45 million from new debt issued by Lions Gate, and another $20 million of cash or stock that Lions Gate must issue within 60 days.

Summit comes into the deal with about $200 million in net debt, which is secured by that studio’s existing assets and will not be assumed by Lions Gate.

Summit was in net debt?  Wow.  I know we’re a week late posting this.  What are your thoughts?  How will this effect Breaking Dawn Part 2?

Category: Featured Stories, Lions Gate, Summit Entertainment, Twilight

  • http://newmoonmovie.org DancingAlice

    Let´s hope for the best!

  • Lfish30

    I say they release Breaking Dawn Part 2 in July to help secure more cash flow to help their debt! Let’s see a Summer movie instead of waiting for a holiday release! :)

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/laramasen Mary Masen

    They’d better not make any changes to the post-production of BD2. Also the studio name for the movie should remain “Summit Ent.”
    And please, PLEASE, don’t make a Twilight TV series! It’ll end up like TVD & TSC!

  • Unique Jenique

    What I am not understanding is how Summit got like this to begin with. You would think with the success of Twilight, they would be able to remain afloat. The company was in FAR less debt than Breaking Dawn Part 1 brought in. In debt 200 mil? Breaking Dawn part 1 brought in over 700 mil. And the franchise as a whole has brought in over 2 billion? It just doesn’t make any sense. Or perhaps no one wanted to work with them because of how cheap they are. ha! Whatever the reason, I just hope they don’t change anything to BD2′s post production, except possibly change the release date, which I highly doubt will happen.

  • http://www.breakingdawnmovie.org/ Jaypat

    Loves!!!

  • Moviebuff2

    That’s what I read also let’s just hope they don’t go there …

  • Anonymous

    I hope they don’t make a TV series either, that would in some way taint the saga. The fans feel very possessive of Twilight. I know I do and I wouldn’t watch a TVs series based on it, it wouldn’t be the same without the cast and SM.

  • Anonymous

    Wick Godfrey said at Press conference that there was no possibility of a summer release, with all the post production for BD2 and that Twilight fans have come to think of Nov. as Twilight time.

  • EdwardsNana

    I can’t help but wonder, if Lionsgate, will handle the “Premier’s” in a different way than Summit did??????????? 
    I won’t make a comment on why I asked that!!!  : (

  • http://btb-uncensored.blogspot.com/ ★FreezeBurn♥RobMyCooter★BTB

    Summit in debt? Too many executives sticking their fingers in the Twilight cookie jar is what pops in my mind.

  • Anonymous

    I read on another fan site that Lions Gate, doesn’t handle promotions & premiere’s very well.

  • GE

    Lionsgate is not known for picking the best scripts or the best movies. I hope they dont screw with Twilight. NO tv show. Never. SM finish Breaking Dawn the way it should have been finished. I was totally satisfied with the way it ended. Bella and Edward got their happy ending. BD2 should be the end also. If they try to drag this thing out it is because of GREED and we the fans can see thru that. They dont care about the fans. WE are the ones that make the movies a success. A TV show would be a utter failure. Leave well enough alone. Of course they will not because they are all so greedy and will try to milk every dime they can out of the fans. I hope the Hunger Games be a huge success so they can concentrate on that and leave Twilight alone.

  • Jennifircolling

    You’d think Summit would of sold for more consider how much they make on these films alone.

  • http://twitter.com/supercharls Charls Singson

    I hope Lions Gate will take care of Breaking Dawn Part 2.

  • EdwardsNana

    OH MY!!!!  I didn’t think anyone could handle it worse than Summit did.  OH MY!!!!

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/CoraleComics?feature=mhum#p/u LegHitchThis

    I was just thinking that because the twilight films make way more than 400m . Maybe its because they are in debt. 

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/CoraleComics?feature=mhum#p/u LegHitchThis

    I know! Where is all the money going? Because I know they dont spend all of it on Twilight. I can assure you that. 

  • Carey

    I dont know why the Twilight fans thinks that Lionsgate is best than Summit, because they arent. Lionsgate  is worst  than Summit.

  • Anonymous

    Summit in debt?  Where did the money go?  Won’t they be getting a big chunk of money with BD2 DVD release in February?  Oh well let’s hope for the best.

  • Ronnia

    I don’t comment of issues I don’t know a darn thing about, all I know is when I pay and wheather or not Liongates pops up on the scene or Summit. Am expecting to see a good movie after that.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 Countdown Timer

Download Breaking Dawn Soundtrack
Soundtrack on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Deluxe Version]
Soundtrack on Amazon