John Wick spinoff Ballerina may have been a box office misfire in June, but its release stirred enough interest in the franchise to boost Lionsgate‘s library revenue close to $1 billion over the trailing 12-month period.
A 12% upswing in library revenue to $989 million over the trailing 12-month period was the third straight quarterly record for the metric. That helped offset difficulties in the film division during the April-to-June quarter, which is the first of the company’s fiscal 2026. Total company revenue of $555.9 million edged Wall Street analysts’ consensus forecast, though a loss per share of 32 cents was wider than the Street expected.
One of the quarter’s major events was not on a film or TV screen. In May, Lionsgate and Starz completed their long-in-the-works split into two publicly traded companies. The financial report reflected only the Lionsgate studio assets, calculated on a pro forma basis in order to create apples-to-apples comparisons.
The motion picture division, which also made Prime Video straight-to-streaming sequel Another Simple Favor during the quarter ended June 30, took in $267.3 million in revenue, down from $349.6 million in the year-ago period.
The television unit fared better, with revenue rising to $288.5 million from $241.1 million. Recent Lionsgate-produced hits like The Studio and The Hunting Wives premiering outside of the quarter, but enough business did come through during the spring quarter to make for a generally upbeat story. The company’s series stable also includes Ghosts, Yellowjackets and The Rookie.
Profit on the TV side more than doubled, from $10.7 million in the year-earlier period to $26 million this year, while movie profits were significantly throttled, coming in at $2.4 million, down from $85.2 million.
“In a post-separation transitional year for the studio, we are taking a number of important steps toward returning to solid growth in fiscal 2027,” CEO Jon Feltheimer said in the earnings release. “We have three major film tentpoles set for release in the coming fiscal year, expect to double our scripted television series deliveries next year and continue to innovate our brands across new businesses and onto new platforms.”