Lionsgate Reports $24.6M in Losses Due to Weak Film Slate

Both income and revenues fall short of Wall Street expectations for 2Q fiscal year

Lionsgate reported a net loss of $24.6 million in its second quarter, which, while actually an improvement upon the $29.7 million loss from a year ago, fell short of analysts’ expectations.

The company lost $0.18 cents per share, as compared to the $0.13 analysts expected.

Revenue was way down as Lionsgate's total of $358.1 million not only falls short of the $421.5 million analysts predicted, but it represents a 21.5 percent drop as compared to last year’s quarter.

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In its press release, the company cited the poor performance of its theatrical releases.

While last year’s second quarter included box office success “The Expendables,” the second quarter of 2012 included misfires like the “Conan the Barbarian” remake and ”Warrior.”

Also Read: Lionsgate Telegraphs Big Loss From  'Abduction,' 'Warrior' and 'Conan'

Overall motion picture revenue was down 36 percent to $218.9 million while theatrical revenue of $22.3 million represented a 71 percent drop.

"Although we were disappointed by the performance of our films in the quarter, we were pleased with the strong and growing contributions of all of our other core businesses," Lionsgate Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer said in a statement. "We believe that our film performance will improve significantly and become more consistent as we release some of the potential franchise films on our upcoming slate, and our television and digital businesses and EPIX channel partnership will continue their strong and profitable growth trajectory."

Home entertainment revenue improved for the company thanks to the syndication of “Mad Men” on Netflix. That division reported $175 million in revenue, a 15 percent increase over a year ago.

Lionsgate shares are down 4 percent so far on the news though the company's earnings call is not until Thursday.

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