Lionsgate and Relativity Media Cut Distribution Deal

Belts are tightening everywhere, even in the traditionally profligate film industry. Lions Gate Entertainment, who suffered a $93.4-million net loss in its last quarter, has made a deal to release five films a year -- including a Middle Ages fantasy-film staring Ron Perlman! -- from Relativity Media, who recently acquired the Rogue Pictures imprint from Universal.

From the LA Times: "Lions Gate said it planned to cut about $100 million out of its annual production budget and more than $100 million out of its marketing expenses. The Santa Monica-based studio also is facing a possible proxy fight from investor Carl Icahn, who has been unhappy with Lions Gate management and its decision to buy the TV Guide channel and website."

The arrangement plays out as part of Lions Gate's announced goal of financing fewer movies, and helps out Relativity by giving them a locked-in distributor. Relativity says they intend to release ten films per year, and this means that they'll have to spend less time shopping around for a deal (they also have a co-financing arrangement with Universal to fund 75% of the studio's product through 2015).


Lions Gate and Relativity previously worked together to release 3:10 to Yuma, The Bank Job and the Jackie Chan/Jet Li debacle The Forbidden Kingdom (hey, two out of three is a pretty decent percentage), and have a couple of intriguing projects in development:

Brothers, a remake of a Danish war drama starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman, will follow a man on a UN mission (Maguire), his bad-boy brother who becomes attached to his wife (Portman, presumably) and child while he's gone, and the PTSD-flavored love triangle angst that results. It's being directed by Jim Sheridan, and slated for fall release.

Season of the Witch, a Middle Ages-fantasy flick, offers up the deliciously unlikely duo of Ron Perlman and Nicolas Cage as knights charged with transporting a maiden who's suspected of a) being a witch, and b) kicking off the Black Plague. (And really, who hasn't been there -- am I right, ladies?) No word on whether the classic Donovan song will be used over the credits. Set for release in 2010.

Also in the can, and scheduled for next year: The Spy Next Door, with Jackie Chan playing a man who must fight off secret agents while babysitting his neighbor's kids. So it would seem that they're still, at best, two-for-three -- and batting zero when it comes to Jackie Chan projects.