FOR LIONSGATE, A LOSS NOW, PROFITS LATER

In Hollywood’s latest variant of “it takes money to make money,” Lionsgate, which produced The Hunger Games, one of the biggest hits of the year, reported a loss of $22.7 million in its fourth quarter ended March 31, due in large part to the costs involved in promoting and marketing the film. It also cited additional legal costs related to its merger with Summit Entertainment. Hunger Games was released one week before the quarter ended, so most of its receipts will be posted during the current quarter. A year ago it reported a net profit for the same quarter. In a statement, Lionsgate CEO John Feltheimer said, “With substantially all of the profitability of the first Hunger Games film and this November’s release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 sill ahead of us, we have great visibility and have set the stage for … strong earnings in the year ahead.”