Lionsgate Motion Picture Group’s president of international Helen Lee-Kim discusses the company’s key franchises and the evolution of its theatrical distribution strategy.
Helen Lee-Kim is president, international, of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group and a key voice in the group’s content strategy and leadership. Her team is responsible for sales and licensing of the group’s first-run films and, since rejoining Lionsgate from Mandate Pictures in December 2017, she has been responsible for generating more than $700m in revenue.
In the past year, Lee-Kim closed deals with blue-chip international partners on key Lionsgate IP including prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes, global smash John Wick: Chapter 4, starring Keanu Reeves, and closed a US and multi-territory deal with Prime Video for Jennifer Lopez action comedy Shotgun Wedding.
Lee-Kim discusses the success of John Wick: Chapter 4, Lionsgate’s flexible distribution strategy, a big sales title for AFM and anticipated highlights for 2024. Due to company policy, Lee-Kim was not able to discuss the Hollywood strikes and their impact on Lionsgate’s business.
John Wick 4 has been your big hit so far this year and is the highest-grossing entry in the franchise. What is its significance to Lionsgate?
We can’t overstate what the John Wick franchise means to our international partners and to us. Chad [Stahelski, director and producer], and Keanu and Basil [Iwanyk, producer] and Erica [Lee, producer], made an A-plus quality film and, in terms of the action, there are some things we had never seen before. People want to see more and this universe is expanding: Ana de Armas is coming out in Ballerina in 2024, which is still uniquely in the John Wick universe but she has her own DNA. So there are a bunch of extensions, expansions and spin-offs that are being created and curated. The appetite and the excitement for this universe is not going away.
It opened number one in every major territory and we’re at $440m worldwide, of which $253m comes from international. For a fourth instalment in a franchise to do this is staggering. Japan was the last market and opened recently, and has surpassed John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, and as of October 15 stood at $6.3m. In India, where it took $7.2m, it opened in three languages: Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. When you look at John Wick 3 to John Wick 4, there was almost a 300% increase.
What else has done well internationally?
The one to focus on is Saw X. It is rolling out as we speak and doing great business. It has been the best-reviewed in the entire franchise. We have France, Italy and Germany still to come. To have done and continue to do the business that it is doing is pretty amazing. As of October 15, we are up to $72m worldwide, of which $30m is international. One highlight is Mexico, which in its opening weekend alone grossed $2.2m, more than 134% above the lifetime total of Jigsaw in the territory.
You’ve got The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes opening in mid-November. Does it go day-and-date everywhere?
It will be global day-and-date followed by Japan. Suzanne Collins wrote a beautiful book that provided this framework for director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson to build this prequel, set 64 years before the original movie. It stars a talented, exciting new cast alongside Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage and Jason Schwartzman.
How do you feel about the theatrical business?
There are still so many entertainment options out there but there is no denying [that] streaming, DVDs and even a pandemic are not going to [eliminate] theatrical. The appetite is stronger than ever. Internationally, John Wick 4 has compared on average 50% higher than John Wick 3. It’s proof that when you have the goods, theatrical is still very much in demand.
How many features do you sell each year?
It is close to 30 movies a year and they’re not all for theatrical — about 12 to 15 are theatrical. What makes the company unique is that we are feeding various distribution demands and needs. Wide release is front and centre, and very important, but in addition there is the multi-platform strategy and there are some streaming titles.
When we greenlight these films we are programming this demand, and we have that unique ability, the financial position and the expertise to figure out where the demand is, and we produce or represent and licence as many films as we can to fill that demand. A good portion of those 30 or so titles is intended for wide release and there is a whole additional basket that’s intended for other distribution paths. As far as being in our opinion the largest supplier of wide-release content to independent distributors, there’s just no-one that sits in the position that we do today. It’s unique.
Our buying pool is independent distributors, majors that are buying for international and streamers that are buying for international. As the industry is evolving and changing, we’re trying to stay ahead of it.
Can you give an example of features that have gone straight to streaming?
Everything we do is very intentional. An interesting one is A Simple Favor 2. The first movie was a wide theatrical release [Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively starred in the crime mystery directed by Paul Feig, which grossed close to $100m worldwide in 2018]. We’re currently building the second one with Prime Video on a worldwide basis. It will be produced and made for the platform. Every movie is so tailored and individual, so you have to figure out the best way to get as many eyeballs on every single piece of IP.
Through our partnership with Ace Productions we did a title called Love At First Sight, which premiered [in September] at number one globally on Netflix. There’s a second one we did with our BuzzFeed partnership called Puppy Love, which did very well on Amazon Freevee [Amazon’s ad-supported streaming platform].
And an example of a multi-platform release?
The key to this business is the sales approach, the distribution approach — the flexibility is where we can get creative. We launched the Anna Kendrick thriller Alice, Darling out of Toronto 2022, where it got a lot of PR buzz that elevated the film globally, and we set it up for a limited theatrical release [in January 2023] before it launched on ancillary platforms. It was very targeted. Not every movie has to be wide release. That’s where the flexibility becomes important for us.
So you’re responding to changes in viewing habits?
Twenty percent of that pre-Covid theatrical audience is not back. Theatrical is so important for all of us, especially for the internationals, and is the backbone of everything but it’s not the only way. We have to continue to evolve and think about alternative distribution strategies. That’s what is enabling us to launch these, give or take, 30 movies a year. They’re not all theatrical.
Our part in the theatrical ecosystem is to deliver premium content that can compete on a Friday night in a movie theatre. When thinking of our partnership with exhibition, their part in it is making sure that they have great seats, that the concessions are spot on, and that the overall theatrical experience is positive. That’s the only way we’re going to get people off the couch.
What’s the biggest challenge to theatrical?
In general, and it’s not only theatrical, the talent that we all want is scarce. So we’re waiting for things to get packaged with talent that we want. The biggest challenge is the scarcity of talent.
Have any of your international distribution partners pivoted away from a theatrical-first strategy?
No. Theatrical is still the backbone of distribution and extremely important to our international partners.
How is your AFM shaping up at a challenging time of year?
We are launching sales on Now You See Me 3 with Ruben Fleischer directing. Ruben’s credits speak for themselves and he’s coming from Zombieland, Venom and Uncharted. He is a huge magic fan. He has a mainstream sensibility and all of his films have this wit and sense of humour about them. He’s all about making sure the audience has a good time.
What are some anticipated releasing highlights for 2024?
There’s our Blumhouse horror Imaginary, our video-game adaptation Borderlands and our John Wick spin-off Ballerina, plus Halle Berry horror thriller Never Let Go (formerly Mother Land) and thriller Flight Risk. We are also very excited about Now You See Me 3, and there’s a couple of exciting things in development. One is Thieves Gambit, which is based on a book series, and we have the live-action Naruto adaptation based on the manga series.
How will the acquisition of eOne’s film and TV business boost your slate?
We can’t talk about it until the deal is done. Once it’s done, which we hope and expect will be year-end, there will be many exciting things to talk about. What I can say is there will be an incredible addition to the library as well as our development slates across film and TV.
What’s the latest production update?
The Strangers is in post-production and the filmmakers headlined a panel at New York Comic Con. Aziz Ansari’s action comedy Good Fortune [starring Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen and Ansari] will resume production once actors return to work.
What do buyers want?
I don’t think there’s been any drastic change to what they’ve always wanted. Big, medium or large, we all want something that is eventful for a clear demographic. That doesn’t mean it has to be eventful for four demographics on every movie, but they want something that’s noisy, high concept — a little bit noisier in order to compete with everything else in the theatrical space and video games and good content on TV. What is the thing that’s going to get everyone out of the house and into the movie theatre? And the movie theatre experience has to be really positive.
Why did Lionsgate phase out its output deals over the past five years?
With around 30 movies [a year], we want to be able to get the movie with the right distributor that’s going to get the most exposure. The most eyeballs on that content is the number one priority. It always goes back to what’s best for the movie and so we have taken a very intentional approach not to have outputs. This allows us the flexibility to handle such a variety of movies, and to get that movie in the right hands of the right distributor.
Are you selling into China and, if so, what are the challenges?
We have had real success in China through the years. Getting theatrical slots has become tough for Hollywood films. It’s just across the board.
Which territories are strong and which are coming up?
We’ve talked about India. Another exciting territory is Vietnam. To give you an idea, back in 2016 we released movies that went out on 40 screens. By Knives Out in 2019, they were up to 450 screens. That’s how the territory has grown and it’s become a very vibrant theatrical market — not for every movie, but 40 to 450 in three to four years is a huge expansion of screens. The other one we have to pay attention to is Saudi Arabia. We don’t have as much historical data to figure out the ultimate upside in the territory, but John Wick 3 grossed just under $2m on a dozen or so screens. John Wick 4 was released on about 150 screens and it grossed about $6m.
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