Lionsgate is not using the same release plan for every title. In a similar fashion to Sony’s title-by-title approach, analysis by 3Vision’s Movie Tracker of the studio’s top three performing titles in 2024 reveals that Lionsgate are adjusting their strategy for each market and film as well.
In Australia, Pay-One deals are usually shared. But this time, Foxtel got both ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ and ‘The Strangers: Chapter 1’ exclusively. One exception was ‘Imaginary’, which was sold only to Amazon, but took almost nine months to appear on streaming after theatrical. It also took a long time to arrive on TVOD, even though it made less than $1 million at the Australian box office.
Amazon has positioned itself as the key buyer of Lionsgate films in the UK, but only took those that had a local theatrical release in the market. ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ skipped UK theatres and hasn’t appeared on a Pay-One service yet. Instead, it went to TVOD about a month after its release in the US, just in time for the holiday season.
In the US, Lionsgate continues to work with Starz through its own Pay-One deal. For their more successful films, the gap between theatre and Pay-One has been around four and a half months. ‘Imaginary’ took longer, about six months. In the UK and Australia as well it took the longest to arrive on Pay-One.
The Pay-One partnership between Lionsgate and Starz has remained in place even after the formal separation of the two entities in May 2025. While they now operate as independent companies, the two continue to collaborate under a multi-year output agreement.
The US is also where Lionsgate’s PVOD strategy is the clearest. All three of these films arrived on PVOD around 45 days after theatrical debut, with TVOD following about a month later. Outside the US, PVOD is rare. Only ‘Imaginary’ got a PVOD release in another market, the UK.
This mix of timing and platform choices shows how Lionsgate is shaping each release to fit the local landscape. It’s not about following one global model. It’s about using the right path for the right film in the right place. Much like Sony Lionsgate is not attempting a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather allowing the title’s success at home and abroad to determine the timing of subsequent windows.
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