Lionsgate Partners Up with Relativity

The soap opera surrounding Lionsgate took another turn today, with the studio reaching an agreement with Relativity Media to produce up to five films a year, which will shore up Lionsgate's annual output after announcing it would cut the number of productions it finances every year. Relativity has been active recently, picking up Rogue Pictures from Universal for abou $150 million, and this deal will further expand the growing company's portfolio, and puts to use some of the $1 billion it received from the hedge fund Elliott Associates. Because of the new arrangement, Relativity now has studio deals with Universal (through 2015), Sony, and Lionsgate, plus Variety indicates that on top of those collaborations, Relativity will explore making up to eight to ten movies a year on its own. Relativity and Lionsgate aren't strangers; they worked together on The Forbidden Kingdom, The Bank Job, and 3:10 to Yuma. The first film in the new agreement will be Brothers, a Jim Sheridan-directed drama starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman, which will be released later this year. Not lost in all of this is the possible impact the deal could have on billionaire Carl Icahn's bid to take over Lionsgate. He's one of the biggest shareholders in the company and has been offering to pay off the company's debts in return for greater influence on the board of directors.