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Reel
History
A
look at Cinematic History by Hilary Emmons
Since the Best Picture Oscar win for Crash in March, one studio's name has been on everyone's lips: the award is the latest success for Lions Gate Entertainment, an independent film company which has thrived in an industry that can be risky even for established mainstream studios. How did Lions Gate become one of the biggest names in the independent film world? The Lions Gate story begins in the 1970s, when Robert Altman, fresh from the success of Nashville, founded the company in Canada. Lions Gate produced Altman's 3 Women and The Wedding among its first films. In 1981, Altman sold Lions Gate to its president, producer Jonathan Taplin. For the next decade, Lions Gate maintained a low profile with just a handful of television productions, including Showtime's Fairie Tale Theater, and such undistinguished feature films as The Unnameable II. However, Lions Gate was about to enter its Golden Age. In 1997, former broker Frank Giustra took over leadership of the company. His goal: to make Lions Gate a Hollywood contender. Giustra selected Peter Guber, the infamous former chairman of Sony Studios who ran up a dizzying tab of expenses before being ousted from his position, as a partner. Many questioned the choice, but Giustra had faith in Guber's ability to come through with marketable projects. Giustra expanded Lions Gate through a series of acquisitions: distribution company Cinepix, North Shore Studios, and Sony's Mandalay Television (part of Guber's package upon leaving Sony). The renamed Lions Gate Entertainment was now able to acquire, produce and distribute film and television. Lions Gate produced more films in 1997 than it had in the previous five years; while few of these made a box-office or critical splash, the company remained profitable. In 2000, Lions Gate produced American Psycho. Too controversial for the major studios, the film earned decent box office and reviews helping to make Lions Gate the company to watch for interesting indie fare. The company had found its niche: well-produced films that could be marketed to a small, but dedicated, target audience. Giustra left Lions Gate in 2000, and was replaced by John Feltheimer and Michael Burns. They focused on beefing up Lions Gate's video library, acquiring Trimark and floundering independent studio Artisan. Lions Gate now had a large piece of the video rental and sales market, a much more reliable income source than film production. This base left Lions Gate free to produce more and riskier features, many of which enjoyed modest success and kept the company growing. In 2001, Lions Gate released Monster's Ball. The dark and moving film was successful at the box office and received a great deal of critical acclaim, garnering an Oscar for Halle Berry. Over the last five years, Lions Gate has combined smart business with artistic ambitions. With sure-fire genre moneymakers (such as the Saw franchise), robust video library sales, and profitable partnerships with mainstream studios (co-producing The Day After Tomorrow with Twentieth-Century Fox) and fellow indies (partnering with United Artists on 2004's Hotel Rwanda), Lions Gate maintains a diverse income base which allows it to take filmmaking risks that might prove fatal to smaller production companies. After the mainstream Crash, Lions Gate seems committed to continuing this diversity: 2006 releases range from the arty (Akeelah and the Bee) to the lowbrow (Kane-of-wrestling-fame vehicle See No Evil, sure to draw a loyal horror crowd).
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Text
is ©2004 Matt Clisbee All other material ©2004 Chris DeKalb unless
otherwise noted