Lionsgate Inks Output Deal with StudioCanal for Germany and Austria

TORONTO - Lionsgate continues to build out its new global distribution network, this time by inking a multi-year output deal with StudioCanal for Germany and Austria.

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The latest deal, building on an earlier tie-up between Lionsgate and StudioCanal in May, also follows similar movie distribution deals for the Canadian mini-studio with Alliance Films in Spain and Roadshow Films in Australia.

“StudioCanal epitomizes the kind of blue-chip partner around whom we are building our international distribution network,” Lionsgate motion picture group co-chairs Patrick Wachsberger and Rob Friedman said Monday in a statement.

“Nobody knows our business better than they do, and their marketing prowess, brand recognition and vision will give us continuity, consistency and leadership in bringing our films to Germany and Austria for years to come,” they added.

StudioCanal recently released The Hunger Games and will release the sequels, Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1 and 2 and other Lionsgate titles in all German-speaking markets.

Lionsgate at Cannes also announced that it will handle StudioCanal's library of more than 2,000 titles.

“This agreement provides us with a pipeline of some of the most commercially exciting films in the world, including the rest of The Hunger Games franchise, from a company emerging as a major force in the global marketplace,” said StudioCanal Germany CEO Rodolphe Buet.

The deal was hammered out by Wachsberger, Lionsgate International president Helen Lee Kim and Lionsgate executive vp of international legal and business affairs Michael Meyer, and for StudioCanal by Buet and Alexandra Bauermeister, executive vp legal and business affairs.

Summit Entertainment, which was acquired by Lionsgate last January, will continue to see its product handled by longtime partner Telemunchen.