No ‘Twilight’ re-make in the works Says Lionsgate

There have recently been rumors making their rounds on the online world that Lionsgate planned to do a Twilight remake, however Summit Entertainment contacted Deadline to clear up these rumors. See below.  

 From Deadline :

Summit Entertainment just phoned me to publicly deny an Internet report that its parent company Lionsgate already is drawing up plans to remake the Twilight Saga by the 5th anniversary of the insanely successful movie and book series which began November 21, 2008. Summit Co-Chairman and now Lionsgate domestic movie czar Rob Friedman tells me: ”We are not remaking Twilight. We will happily support Stephanie Meyer if she decides to proceed in any way. But this will be the last one unless that should change.” What this statement means is simply that the studio will do whatever Twilight Sagaauthor Stephenie Meyer wants. She has said in some interviews that she wouldn’t mind seeing a reboot — so an evantual remake isn’t out of the realm of possibility. But as of now none is on the drawing board. Summit has released four Twilight adaptations, with the fifth and final for now film Breaking Dawn Part 2 arriving in theaters on November 16th.

Lionsgate Bought Summit for $412.5 M

Lionsgate has officially  purchased Summit for $412.5 million, the companies announced on Friday.

The two independent studios have been circling each other for months. The deal is being structured as a leveraged buyout, in the form of cash and stock.

“We are uniting two powerful entertainment brands, bringing together two world-class feature film franchises to establish a commanding position in the young adult market, strengthening our global distribution infrastructure and creating a scalable platform that will result in significant and accretive financial benefits to Lionsgate shareholders,” Lionsgate Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer and Vice Chairman Michael Burns said in a statement.

Summit brings with it debt, but that will be paid off with profits from the final two “Twilight” movies, allowing Lionsgate to keep that sum off its own books.

The debt that Summit took on last spring, has been refinanced into a new $500 million loan, which will be paid off by 2016. Lionsgate said it anticipates retiring the debt before that date.

The deal places a question mark over the future of production chief Joe Drake. It also means one less buyer in an already reduced indie landscape — and layoffs at the two companies.

Lionsgate will get a modest library of titles that also includes “The Hurt Locker” and “R.E.D.,” which it can add to its paid TV network Epix. Perhaps more important, Lionsgate will gain Summit’s expertise in international distribution — an area where it is lacking.

However, insiders at both studios feel that Summit’s experience in transforming the vampire “Twilight” series into a global box office phenomenon can help Lionsgate pull off a similar feat with “The Hunger Games.” This could help turn the studio, a launching pad for mid-budget genre films, into a lekking ground for young adult film franchises.

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Lionsgate Possibly Making $700 Million Deal To Buy ‘Twilight’ Studio Summit Entertainment

According to Bloomberg, Lionsgate (the studio behind the upcoming “The Hunger Games” film) is close to making a deal to purchase Summit Entertainment (the company behind the Twilight Saga films) for $700 million.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF) is near an agreement to buy “Twilight” producer Summit Entertainment LLC for about $700 million including assumed debt, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

An accord may be announced as soon as next week, said two people, who sought anonymity because negotiations aren’t complete. The talks may not end with an agreement, they said.

Lions Gate, the studio behind “Saw” and the Tyler Perry comedies, will pay more than $400 million for Summit’s equity and assume less than $300 million in debt, one of the people said. Summit, based in Santa Monica, California has been negotiating exclusively with Lions Gate for the past week, the people said. The studio also held talks with Tom Barrack’s Colony Capital LLC, which owns the the Miramax film library.

A deal would gives Lions Gate, maker of the “Saw” horror films and the “Mad Men” TV show, the final installment in the “Twilight” vampire movies and library rights to the first four films, which generated $2.45 billion in global ticket sales. Lions Gate would also add Summit’s Oscar-winning war drama “The Hurt Locker” to its library of 13,000 films and TV shows.

Lions Gate and Summit last month resumed talks that broke down in the past over price and control issues.

The combined company will be run by Lions Gate Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer and Vice Chairman Michael Burns, with Summit CEO Rob Friedman running the film unit, one of the people said. Patrick Wachsberger, Summit’s co-chairman with Friedman, would take over international distribution.

“Twilight” fits Lions Gate’s goal of breaking into the lucrative young-adult market. The studio will release the first of four planned films based on Suzanne Collins’s “The Hunger Games” trilogy in March. Lions Gate also owns rights to the “Chaos Walking” young-adult books by Patrick Ness.

The acquisition would produces a pay day for the owners of closely held Summit, who formed the studio in 2007 with funding from Merrill Lynch & Co. Last year, the company raised $750 million to finance movie making and pay a dividend to owners including Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. Friedman and Wachsberger also own part of Summit.

Lions Gate, run from Santa Monica, California, fell 0.5 percent to $8.41 yesterday in New York. The company has about $550 million in short- and long-term debt, according to data (LGF)compiled by Bloomberg.

Closely held Summit raised $550 million in March with a 5.5-year loan to finance a dividend and film production.

Some of Summit’s cash will be used to pay down its debt and some cash will move with the company to Lions Gate, according to the website Deadline Hollywood, which reported the terms earlier.

Via

‘Breaking Dawn’ Hacker Identified: Summit Takes Legal Action

Summit Entertainment has just released the following statement in connection to the stolen images from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn:

“In an action that further communicates that those who steal images, video and other intellectual property will be identified and prosecuted globally, Summit Entertainment communicated today that it has identified the principal hacker who earlier this year stole unreleased materials from THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN which were then distributed on the internet.”

“Civil actions in the United States and Argentina name Daiana Santia, along with others, as being involved in stealing photographs, unfinished images and video from both parts of the yet to be released THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN which first appeared on the internet of March 31 of this year. Criminal action in Argentina has also been filed.”

“The investigation, which utilized the services of Kroll Inc. and the law firm of Keats McFarland & Wilson LLP, spanned four continents (North America, South America, Europe and Australia) and has led to the town of Posadas in northern Argentina.  It is believed that others may also be involved in the crime and thus the investigation is on-going.”

“While we very much appreciate the legions of committed fans of the franchise and encourage them to create community online, we cannot ignore that property was stolen,” said David C. Friedman, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Summit Entertainment. “It is not fair to the majority of fans that want to see the final chapter of the TWILIGHT SAGA film franchise fully realized by the filmmaker and dedicated cast and crew to have these images out and available on the Internet.”

Thanks to GossipCop!

Summit Clears Up ‘Breaking Dawn’ Rumors!!!

Listen up Twi-Hards. We now have some Breaking Dawn movie rumors cleared up straight form the source, Summit Entertainment:

We talked with some people here and we wanted to clear up a few rumors that have been circulating. Please understand that if we haven’t listed it below, either we haven’t heard the rumor or we can’t comment on it:

• There is only one casting director working on THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN films right now – Deborah Zane. As of right now no local auditions are being held. If Deborah’s name is not attached to it in some form or another, it is not legitimate. She is also not putting out nationwide casting notices. Once again – as was the case with NEW MOON and ECLIPSE – any ads you see are completely false. She has set up an e-mail address specifically for casting inquiries (BreakingDawnCast@gmail.com). We ask you please spread this news to your readers, as we don’t want them getting taken advantage of by casting scams!

• Lexicon touched base regarding a rumor about Renesmee’s name changing in BREAKING DAWN. I cleared it up with them, but let me tell you as well – it is FALSE.

• Amanda (Twi Examiner) asked about Riley’s appearance in BREAKING DAWN because it was listed on Xavier’s IMDb page. I already told her, but in case you did not see her post, Riley will not appear in the BREAKING DAWN films. It is a rumor

• Also not confirmed is anything you have heard about the US release date of the ECLIPSE DVD. We have not announced it yet, so unless it is international and confirmed by an international distributor, it is a rumor

[Thanks to HisGoldenEyes]