Lionsgate's Major-League Makeover

6:00 AM PST 11/27/2012 by Kim Masters

With $1 billion in box office this year, the home of "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" beats Fox in market share, has money to acquire another studio and the kind of frugality that makes Wall Street fawn.

Like Bella Swan in Twilight, Lionsgate is undergoing a radical, potentially life-changing transformation. As many major studios are in retreat, the publicly traded conglomerate is advancing. Breaking Dawn -- Part 2 has pushed it for the first time past the $1 billion mark at the domestic box office this year, and with the Hunger Games franchise still in its arsenal and 15 releases planned for 2013, Lionsgate is starting to look more like a major than a mini.