LIONSGATE MOVES TO INTEGRATE ITS MOTION PICTURE MARKETING OPERATIONS

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Apr 17, 2014, 04:23 ET

SANTA MONICA, Calif., and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next generation global content leader, is integrating the marketing operations of its Lionsgate and Summit film labels, the Company announced today.

As a result of this integration, Nancy Kirkpatrick, who has served as Summit Entertainment's President of Worldwide Marketing for the past six years, will resign at the end of this month. Ms. Kirkpatrick shepherded the marketing of all five films of the global blockbuster Twilight Saga franchise and the recent successful launch of the Company's new Divergent franchise.

The Company's feature film marketing is being integrated under Chief Marketing Officer Tim Palen, who will have marketing oversight of the Company's Lionsgate and Summit film labels as well as its Pantelion Films joint venture with Televisa and its urban Codeblack Films label along with expanded responsibilities for merchandising, theme park attractions and new business opportunities generated by the Company's franchises.

"Now was the right time to take the next step in integrating the marketing departments of our Lionsgate and Summit film labels as we continue to achieve significant operational synergies following the acquisition of Summit Entertainment two years ago," said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. "Under the leadership of our innovative Chief Marketing Officer Tim Palen, we will continue to develop fresh marketing strategies that strengthen our brand, cultivate new film properties and leverage our existing franchises into exciting new businesses."

"Nancy has successfully completed the mission we asked her to perform two years ago, maintaining the momentum of a vibrant slate of Summit Entertainment films, culminating in last month's blockbuster launch of the first film in our new Divergent franchise," continued Friedman and Wachsberger. "Nancy is a consummate professional and a skilled and intuitive marketing executive. She has been a key member of our motion picture family for years, and she will be missed."

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, new channel platforms and international distribution and sales. Lionsgate currently has 34 television shows on 22 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 network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show and the critically-acclaimed 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, Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain, Warm Bodies, The Expendables 2, The Possession, Sinister, Roadside Attractions' Mud and Pantelion Films' breakout hit 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 15,000 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

For further information, please contact:

Peter D. Wilkes
Lionsgate
310-255-3726
[email protected]

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SOURCE Lionsgate