Lionsgate and Imagine Nation Form Partnership to Launch The Hunger Games on Stage

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Nov 07, 2014, 09:00 ET

AMSTERDAM and SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing the expansion of its global blockbuster Hunger Games franchise into new businesses, Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next generation global content leader, is teaming with Dutch media company Imagine Nation and U.S. based Triangular Entertainment to bring The Hunger Games to the stage using innovative and immersive staging techniques, the companies announced today. The Hunger Games theatrical experience will launch in summer 2016 in a brand new purpose-built theater next to Wembley Stadium in London, UK.

The Hunger Games theatrical experience will be produced by award-winning Broadway producer Robin de Levita, co-founder of Imagine Nation, along with legendary UK promoter Harvey Goldsmith, Triangular Entertainment's Warren Adams and Brandon Victor Dixon of WalkRunFly Productions and entertainment executives Robert Harris and R&R Media's Gary Ricci.

De Levita has recently created groundbreaking presentation formats for two productions in Holland. Soldier of Orange, the hit Dutch musical, has been sold out since it opened four years ago. The audience sits in a 360-degree rotating auditorium that turns from set to set creating an unforgettable experience. ANNE, the first authorized play in 55 years based on The Diary of Anne Frank, uses rotating life sized stage sets. ANNE premiered in May 2014 in Amsterdam and has received rave reviews from around the globe.

"Robin de Levita and the entire production team are the perfect partners for extending The Hunger Games franchise into a live theatrical experience," said Lionsgate Chief Marketing Officer Tim Palen. "Their creative genius, combined with world-class production values and state-of-the-art technology will provide a uniquely immersive experience for fans around the world."

"I'm thrilled to be partnering with an innovative next generation studio like Lionsgate on a property that resonates so deeply with global audiences," said De Levita. "The theater is a fantastic medium to bring the many meaningful layers of Suzanne Collins' writing to life."

The first two installments of the global blockbuster Hunger Games franchise have already grossed more than $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was the highest-grossing domestic box office release of 2013 and the 10th highest-grossing domestic release of all time. Suzanne Collins' best-selling trilogy of books has already sold more than 80 million copies around the world and has spent six years on the New York Times list. The next installment of the franchise, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, will be released worldwide on November 21, directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Academy Award® winner Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson.

About Imagine Nation
Imagine Nation is a global production company focusing on Live Entertainment, Film and Television, with an ambition to create new intellectual properties through the use of innovative technology. Earlier this year Imagine Nation produced the internationally acclaimed play ANNE which is based, for the first time, on the original and complete diaries of Anne Frank for which Imagine Nation built a brand new theatre in Amsterdam. In 2013 the company released the movie APP, the first film with a "second screen" application. The company was founded in 2012 by Kees Abrahams, media entrepreneur, former Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? owner and former President of International Production at Sony Pictures Television, and producer Robin de Levita.

About Robin de Levita
Robin de Levita produced more than 80 first class theater productions in 7 countries, winning numerous international awards including Tony Awards for Titanic, 42nd Street and Into the Woods, plus a Laurence Olivier Award for The Who's Tommy. De Levita has in recent years become famous for his use of innovative staging techniques. As a producer of Soldier of Orange (the longest running musical in Dutch history), De Levita created a rotating auditorium. For the play ANNE he invented a new system that seamlessly integrates video with moveable and rotating stages. Both shows use ground breaking staging concepts that challenge the relationship between the performance and the audience.

About Harvey Goldsmith
Harvey Goldsmith CBE is a legendary promoter and producer of concerts and events globally. He has worked with nearly all of the world's leading artists and is most well-known for his work producing Live Aid and Live 8, The Prince's Trust Rock Galas as well as co-producing Live Earth. He worked with Cirque de Soleil for 20 years and in 2013 produced Chime for Change, an event for women's empowerment. In London in 2014, Harvey created the first OnBlackheath musical festival and produced Hans Zimmer's first ever live concerts. Harvey joined the board of Imagine Nation in May 2013. Harvey has received numerous awards for his work in the entertainment business including a Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and a Diamond Award for the Queen's Jubilee for his Contribution to The Arts.

About Triangular Entertainment
Triangular Entertainment is a multi-platform production company formed by veteran Hollywood executive Robert Harris, award winning producers Warren Adams and Brandon Victor Dixon (Walk Run Fly Productions) and media producer/financier Gary Ricci (R&R Media). www.triangularent.com
Robert Harris is a respected studio executive who led MCA/Universal Television to the premiere position among the world's television producers/distributors. As Vice President Broadband Strategy for America On Line, he was a pioneer in bringing on line entertainment ( high-speed music and streaming video on demand) to a worldwide audience. And as President of Imagine Films Entertainment he helped that company launch its successful initial slate of motion pictures and television projects. He currently produces film, TV and web content under his Harris & Company banner.
WalkRunFly is an award winning multi-media production company that was founded by Astaire Award winner Warren Adams and Tony/Grammy Award nominee Brandon Victor Dixon. They are currently producing Ryan Scott Oliver's DARLING, Charles Randolph Wright's LOVE IN AFGHANISTAN, the Dan Fogelberg musical PART OF THE PLAN, Daniel J. Watts' THE JAM and Gilbert Bailey's BOUT TO BLOW.
Gary Ricci is the founder of R&R Media a private investment group that produces and finances film, television, digital and event entertainment projects. Gary is a partner of No Mystery Media Partners a one-stop music service supporting film, television and digital media producers with quality original music, supervision and production services and project funding.

About Lionsgate
Lionsgate, home to The Hunger Games, Twilight and Divergent franchises, is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms and international distribution and sales. Lionsgate currently has more than 30 television shows on over 20 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mad Men and Nurse Jackie, the comedy Anger Management, the broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show and the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black.

Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent successes as the blockbuster first two installments of The Hunger Games franchise, The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the first installment of the Divergent franchise, Now You See Me, John Wick, Warm Bodies, The Possession, Sinister, Roadside Attractions' A Most Wanted Man, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.

Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rate. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 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 and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world. www.lionsgate.com

Media Contacts:
Julie Fontaine
Lionsgate
(310) 255-4970
[email protected]

Lorna Mann
Lionsgate UK
+44 20 7299 8800
[email protected]

Ilan Roos
Imagine Nation
+31 6 22527945
[email protected]

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SOURCE Lionsgate