:''
Lions Gate redirects here. For the bridge in Vancouver, Canada, see
Lions' Gate Bridge .
is a
Canadian entertainment company, based in
Vancouver .
As Of 2004 , it is the most commercially-successful
Film and
Television distribution company based outside of the
United States .
In
2003 , the company bought the assets of
Artisan Entertainment , which was best known for the release of ''
The Blair Witch Project '' in
1999 .
is a
Canadian Production -
Distributor company, a subsidiary of
Lions Gate Entertainment . It is currently the largest and most successful
Independent Film distributor-studio in
North America . It focuses mainly on
Foreign and independent films, and is perhaps best known for distributing films that are too controversial for the large American companies like ''
Fahrenheit 9/11 '' and ''
American Psycho ''.
Lions Gate has differed greatly under different managers. The original company was founded by director
Robert Altman , who named it after a Vancouver landmark, the
Lions' Gate Bridge . Among Lions Gate's first films included ''
3 Women '' (
1977 ) and ''
A Wedding '' (
1979 ). In 1981, Altman sold the company to Jonathan Taplin.
The current incarnation was initiated in
1997 by
Frank Giustra , a
Vancouver investment banker hoping to capitalize on the growing film industry in his home town. The company bought a number of small production facilities and distributors. Its first success was ''
American Psycho '', which began a trend of producing and distributing fare too controversial for the major American studios. Other successes included ''
Affliction '', ''
Gods And Monsters '', ''
Dogma '', and the
Michael Moore documentary ''
Fahrenheit 9/11 '' (which turned out to be the studio's highest grossing film in their history).
In
2000 , Giustra left the firm and it was taken over by
Jon Feltheimer and Michael Burns. They decided to focus on the profits of
Video s and
DVD s and began buying struggling firms that controlled large libraries. The two most notable acquisitions were
Trimark and
Artisan Entertainment . These two along with other firms gave Lions Gate the second largest DVD library of any company which includes ''
Total Recall '', ''
Reservoir Dogs '', ''
On Golden Pond '', ''
Young Guns '', ''
Dirty Dancing '' and ''
It's A Wonderful Life '', in some cases via output deals with
StudioCanal ,
ITC/Carlton , and
Republic Pictures (the result of prior licensing deals with Lions Gate's home video predecessor Artisan).
Very rarely does Lions Gate co-produce films with major studios. For example, Lions Gate teamed with '' and with
Paramount Pictures for 2002's ''
Narc '' and 2004's ''
The Prince & Me ''. Lions Gate was also a
Silent Partner in
20th Century Fox 's 2004 sci-fi film ''
The Day After Tomorrow ''. And also in 2004, for the first time ever, Lions Gate joined forces with independent rival
United Artists in producing ''
Hotel Rwanda ''. The company also has a television division that has made shows such as ''
The Dead Zone ''. The company also recently has launched a
Record Label .
Its continued success is demonstrated by celebrity support such as with the all-star cast of ''
Crash '' (the first film from the studio to receive the
Academy Award for
Best Picture ), combined with the success of Nicolas Cage's movie ''
Lord Of War '', and even with ''
Saw 2 '', which won its opening weekend at the box office
{Link without Title} . Another important recent franchise is Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea's Family Reunion, which recently was the first film of 2006 to be the #1 Movie in America for two weeks in a row. These demonstrate its great power as an independent studio, slowly creeping to be proven worthy as a great competitor with the mainstream distributors.
The company produced such series as ''
The Dead Zone '' and ''
Five Days To Midnight ''.
Based in Canada, Lions Gate studio properties also are rented to other film studios including the filming of the
Warner Bros. film, ''
Catwoman ''.
Has a home video library of more than 8000 films (many the result of output deals with other studios), including such titles as ''
Dirty Dancing '', ''
Total Recall '', ''
On Golden Pond '' and the ''
Rambo '' series. Lions Gate also distributes
Mattel 's
Barbie -branded videos and
Clifford The Big Red Dog videos from the
Scholastic Corporation .
