LIONSGATE, STUDIOCANAL AND MIRAMAX ENTER INTO HOME ENTERTAINMENT DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT

SANTA MONICA, Calif., VANCOUVER, British Columbia and PARIS, Feb. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF), a leading diversified filmed entertainment studio, Studiocanal and Miramax announced today that they have entered into a worldwide home entertainment distribution deal. Under the long-term deal, Lionsgate and Studiocanal will distribute more than 550 titles from the renowned Miramax film library via DVD, Blu-ray, EST and Internet Video On Demand (VOD), in addition to cable VOD internationally.

Lionsgate will partner with leading international distributor Studiocanal to distribute Miramax titles in the UK and Europe. The announcement was made by Steve Beeks, President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Lionsgate, Olivier Courson, Chief Executive Officer of Studiocanal and Mike Lang, Chief Executive Officer of Miramax.

"The Miramax library will be one of the most treasured jewels in our home entertainment crown," said Beeks. "With our longstanding commitment and expertise in aggressively managing library titles, we are thrilled to bring together under one roof such Miramax film icons as Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting with our existing classics such as Dirty Dancing and Monster's Ball to create what is unquestionably one of the most powerful and prestigious filmed entertainment libraries in the world. We are looking forward to working with Mike and his incredible team on this exciting venture."

"We are pleased to expand our existing partnership with Lionsgate to encompass this exciting new venture with Miramax," said Courson. "The Miramax library features some of the best of American independent cinema, representing a wonderful mix of creative excellence, award winning films and commercial successes. The Miramax slate is a perfect fit for Studiocanal's core values and vision and we believe it will resonate with European audiences."  

"With their expertise and success in the home entertainment marketplace, we consider both Lionsgate and Studiocanal to be the perfect partners to distribute these films," says Lang. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with them as we work to expand the availability of our library across all platforms to reach new audiences around the world."

The first home entertainment release under the deal will be The Switch in the US, the romantic comedy about friendship, fertility and family, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, which will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and available for digital download on March 15th.

The deal with Miramax continues to build on Lionsgate's tremendous success distributing third party product from some of the most prominent libraries in the world, including Studiocanal. Consisting of approximately 13,000 motion picture titles and television episodes, Lionsgate has one of the largest and most prestigious libraries in the entertainment industry with titles including Dirty Dancing, Memento, Monster's Ball, Crash and Rambo. Lionsgate has noted that the Company has achieved record library revenue for five consecutive years through a combination of organic replenishment and strategic acquisitions and distribution deals, despite a challenging marketplace.

ABOUT LIONSGATE

Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution and new channel platforms.  The Company has built a strong television presence in production of prime time cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming through Debmar-Mercury and an array of channel assets. Lionsgate currently has 15 shows on more than 10 networks spanning its prime time production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as "Mad Men", "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie" along with recent series such as "Blue Mountain State" and the syndication successes "Tyler Perry's House Of Payne", its spinoff "Meet The Browns", "The Wendy Williams Show" and "Are We There Yet?".

Its feature film business has generated more than half a billion dollars at the North American box office in the past year, fueled by such hits as THE EXPENDABLES, which was #1 at the North American box office for two weeks, THE LAST EXORCISM, TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO?, KICK ASS and the critically-acclaimed PRECIOUS, which won two Academy Awards®. The Company's home entertainment business has grown to more than 7% market share and is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD revenue conversion rate. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 13,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand remains synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

ABOUT STUDIOCANAL

Studiocanal is a European leader in production, acquisition and distribution of motion pictures, and the only studio in Europe distributing all media at the source in the three largest markets: France, Great Britain (Optimum Releasing) and Germany (Kinowelt).  Studiocanal owns one of the most comprehensive film libraries in the world with more than 5,000 French, British, Italian, German and American films.  The company is increasingly active in International Production having fully financed The Last Exorcism and having co-developed and co-financed The Tourist  starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.  Studiocanal is currently in post production on its fully financed Working Title production of John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy, directed by Tomas Alfreson and starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy.  The company also co-financed the Joel Silver production Unknown starring Liam Neeson which opens this Friday.

ABOUT MIRAMAX

The Miramax library is a collection of 700 motion pictures which were produced, financed or distributed by Miramax Films since 1979. The Miramax library holds some of the world's most sophisticated, thought-provoking and critically-acclaimed independent films including sex, lies, and videotape, The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, Reservoir Dogs, Chicago, Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, My Left Foot, Cinema Paradiso, Life is Beautiful, Amelie, Kill Bill Volume I and II, No Country for Old Men, as well as scores of commercially successful films such as Bridget Jones's Diary, the Scream, Hellraiser and Scary Movie franchises and Spy Kids. Collectively the Miramax archives have received 284 Academy Award nominations and 68 Oscars, including 4 Best Picture Awards.

For more information, please visit www.miramax.com.

SOURCE Lionsgate