Lionsgate Television has cut more than 30 to 40 of its overall and first-look development deals — more than half — an individual with knowledge of the situation confirmed to TheWrap on Wednesday.
The move follows the Santa Monica-based company’s December 2023 acquisition of eOne from Hasbro for $500 million.
Several development deals were temporarily suspended last year during the WGA strike. At the time, that affected the studio’s deals with Paul Feig (Feigco Entertainment), Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum (The Tannenbaum Co.), Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly (Timberman/Beverly Productions), Michael London (Groundswell Productions) and Joseph Sikora, star of Starz’ “Power” Universe series, “Power Book IV: Force.”
It’s unknown at this time whether these deals are still in place at Lionsgate.
Lionsgate TV’s current lineup includes “Ghosts” on CBS, “Selling Sunset” on Netflix, ABC’s “The Rookie” and the Emmy-nominated Showtime/Paramount hit “Yellowjackets.” Past Lionsgate TV hits include “Mad Men” and “Orange Is the New Black.”
Although Lionsgate had a box office success with “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” its overall Q3 earnings fell 2.5%.
The TV division recently announced “Spartacus: House of Ashur,” a Starz series that was cemented before CEO Jon Feltheimer unveiled plans in January to move Lionsgate Studios into a SPAC to create a separately traded public company from the cable network.
Lionsgate, which is a not a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, secured a SAG-AFTRA waiver to film the “Hunger Games” prequel during the actors’ strike, as well as for its Biblical TV series, “The Chosen.”
Meanwhile, Hasbro has conducted extensive layoffs before and after the eOne sale, with cuts announced in January, June and December of 2023: In December, 1,100 jobs were cut, or approximately 20% of the company’s workforce.
Deadline first reported this story.
