Summit, Lionsgate to work through foreign

The way the Summit-Lionsgate merger plays out overseas is going to be interesting both when it comes to its foreign sales operation and Summit's existing output deals across a raft of areas. Because it stands, sources indicate that Summit's and Lionsgate's sales procedures continues out of the box for that relaxation of 2012, with both procedures (Summit's headed by David Garrett and Lionsgate's by Helen Lee Kim) confirming to Patrick Wachsberger. As Summit's entire operation grown from worldwide sales, dealmakers appear keen for that sales arm to remain intact underneath the eye of the Summit professional. For output deals, Summit includes a raft of contracts placed in nations including Blighty (eOne), The country (Aurum), Australia (Hopscotch/eOne), Russia (Central Partnership) and Germany (Tele Munchen). Additionally, Summit funnels its very own productions in South America through IDC Films, a partnership with NuVision founder-director Pedro Rodriguez. Associates demonstrate that, at the moment, these existing deals is going to be satisfied before the finish of 2012 a minimum of. How existing contracts will pan out next remains to appear. EOne and eOne/Hopscotch both restored output deals this past year for 3 years while exclusive six-year results with Central Partnership and Tele Munchen along with a three-year output with Aurum were inked pre-AFM in November. While these deals could be seen as attractive assets to Lionsgate, Summit's greatest cash cow worldwide has unquestionably been the "Twilight" franchise, along with other Summit product generally carrying out tepidly in the box office. In Blighty, the 4 "Twilight" payments have produced a lot more than $150 million for distrib eOne (including $16.3 million in the first installment with Contender, before eOne's acquisition) during The country the franchise has made a lot more than $95 million. Moving forward, the organization can decide to which banner to greenlight photos and whether Summit will be the most attractive option given a current an output deal. The territory which will most have the affects from the merger within the long term may be the U.K., where Lionsgate already includes a thriving distribution hub. Following the three-year contract with eOne sometimes appears through, it might be preferable for the organization to funnel production through its very own operation. Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com