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Lionsgate’s Long, Long Road to a Lifeline

An executive shake-up comes amid C.E.O. Jon Feltheimer’s latest play to make the ‘Hunger Games’ outfit more attractive to a buyer like Netflix or Apple. But is anyone in the market for a slimmed-down studio, and how do you solve a problem like Starz?

Jon Feltheimer, Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth at the premiere of "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" held at TCL Chinese Theatre on November 13, 2023 in Los Angeles.
C.E.O. Jon Feltheimer (left) has been frustrated over the lack of new franchises to help lure potential buyers of the company. Photo: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
January 15, 2024

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Lionsgate replaced its film chairman Joe Drake with Adam Fogelson this week, which I don’t think surprised anybody who was paying attention. The small studio—what we used to call a “mini-major” until the majors became mini compared to the tech giants—had a good year, with new installments of John Wick, Saw, and Hunger Games. But C.E.O. Jon Feltheimer has been frustrated over the lack of new franchises to help lure potential buyers of the company, and recent efforts like Chaos Walking and Borderlands haven’t panned out. (Side note: Borderlands, a pricey video game adaptation from filmmaker Eli Roth, finished shooting back in 2021 with Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart, and it’s been super troubled. It isn’t scheduled to hit theaters until August, more than four years after the green light.)