Adam Fogelson seizes the opportunity. The head of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group has had a string of hit films, including a trilogy Now you see me: Now you don’t see me ($243.7 million worldwide on a $90 million budget) and the beginning of the franchise the maid ($398 million on a $35 million budget). Success seems certain, as it is still in its early stages; It was officially launched only in September with Critical Darling The long walkfrom Hunger Games Franchise director Francis Lawrence (returns for the next new installment Sunrise on harvest).
It’s good timing, too, since Fogelson will take the helm of the film group in January 2024 — and the studio has since dropped some high-profile disappointments that have caused problems. Video game adaptation Border areas The hole. Crow Didn’t fly. the John Wick Expansion of the universe Ballerina It didn’t end up expanding much at all.
But Fogelson is keen to solve everything. During a wide-ranging interview with Hollywood Reporter From his office in Santa Monica, he argues that those headlines — both hits and flops — don’t paint the full picture of Lionsgate, a unique player in an industry increasingly driven by consolidation and streaming. The former STX and Universal Pictures president discusses the lessons that continue to be learned, both good and bad, in his time since helming Lionsgate — and ahead of a year filled with the potential for big breakthroughs and new controversies.
I’m coming off a great few months and a few years of ups and downs. What’s your overall assessment of where Lionsgate is now?
There will always be pleasant surprises and unpleasant surprises. It’s the nature of the business, but if you work efficiently, with the right team and have the right material, we can be an incredibly compelling place to produce, market and distribute motion pictures.
the maid It was a huge success for a mid-budget film. What lessons are you drawing from this as you plan the sequel?
When you work at a company like STX or Lionsgate now, the opportunity to make films that are more focused on their target audience – it changes the equation a little bit about how many slots per year you can devote to films that aren’t likely to be multi-billion dollar films.
We also thought that the marketing questions that we would be able to ask the audience on this film, with this director and this cast, would be really interesting — that’s one of the biggest challenges right now. When I was a marketer, you couldn’t guarantee that people would want to see your movie, but if you bought enough commercials on the right TV shows, you could pretty much guarantee that people would know it existed. This is not true anymore. People’s attention is too dispersed across all channels and opportunities. … The filmmaking team and actors that we assembled were willing to not only do the hard work of making a great movie but they were excited to do the hard work of promoting that movie.
Amidst the positives, what scares you the most right now in this industry?
We’re a content creation company — and there are still no other broad lines of business that can mitigate what happens if you’re going down a really bad path. Industry surprises, not only positive, but also negative, have become so intense that you definitely worry [about] Which. But this challenge is mitigated by the fact that this company has proven its resilience. In the year that Border areas Released, on paper, you couldn’t have had a more challenging 18 months than this company has had. The mid- and low-budget films did really well, but they didn’t generate much positive press attention. There was one big movie, and it pretty much underperformed. However, when the company reported earnings, we reported earnings as a pure entertainment company.
Where do you see Lionsgate standing in this moment of industry consolidation?
If the deal goes through, and Warners and Paramount both make 15 films a year, nothing might change. If that number drops a little bit here or there, every movie that’s not made by one of those studios is another opportunity for us. I understand why people talk about the importance of film size to the health of the industry. I don’t disagree with that, but I would say that more important than the size of the films is the quality of the films that are produced. We will definitely keep an eye on where we can take advantage of open space because we have the luxury of doing so in ways that others cannot and should not. If there were more consolidation and created more opportunities for us to produce additional films, win additional projects that might have previously gone elsewhere and attract filmmakers who don’t feel they might get all the support they need elsewhere? amazing.
Back to the maidthe ability to put a film like it in the Christmas aisle is partly a function of not having a $200 million tentpole that needs to occupy the Christmas space. You have to have a film that you think can compete, and you have to have filmmakers that trust you.
Was that a difficult conversation to have? maid Filmmakers?
certainly. Look, all the dating and marketing conversations are hard. We have as many conversations before we get the green light as possible. …It is better to have well-thought-out answers to a question on which you cannot prove anything. There’s a certain degree of speculation about how those decisions were made, but I can tell you this in this movie: Paul Feig and Todd Lieberman and Sidney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried asked all the right, really tough questions, and when we finished giving them our answers, they said, “You’ve thought this through clearly and we trust you.”
Michael It’s the next big release. There is a lot of anticipation and speculation about it. What can you share about the plan in terms of reports on the two-film release strategy?
This first film stops short of telling the full story of Michael Jackson. There’s a lot of great music in this catalog that this part of the story doesn’t touch on. We’ve said there’s room for another movie, and I can tell you that the filmmaking team has done their best to prepare for a second movie, and when the right moment comes, we’re happy to announce that it will definitely happen. … I’m optimistic that there are more stories to tell and that we have a really good chance of being in a position to deliver.
MichaelThe original third act depicted someone who alleged sexual assault against Jackson when he was 13 and later reached an agreement not to be portrayed in any drama related to Jackson. This led to a legal challenge against the film. You pushed back the release date and reorganized the film in reshoots – how did you decide to move forward?
We sat with [director] Antoine Fuqua and [producer] Graham King spoke about the challenges and opportunities created when the situation arose. The opportunity was to take more of our time with a very complete and useful part of the story [Jackson’s] Life and don’t worry about the movie that would have really struggled with a very epic length. Let’s take the opportunity to tell this part of the story of the King of Pop’s rise in the most artistically satisfying way. Then we’ll decide if, when, and how to tell more of the story.
But Jackson is clearly a controversial figure here. Is that something you talk about when you discuss the form of film – you address that?
The credibility that Antoine and Graham bring to a project like this should not be underestimated. These are not people who carry water. I don’t think either of them would join a project that they didn’t think was a valuable and authentic representation of whatever they were trying to say. Let me start there.
There are some things that are indisputable. Michael Jackson is one of the most influential artists in human history Not most of them. The idea that there couldn’t or shouldn’t be a biography about him doesn’t seem particularly fair. The goal is to get an insight into who that person is, and the film does absolutely justice to that – whatever you want to make of that, everyone will have the opportunity to think for themselves.
It attracted a fine cast of decorated actors next time Hunger Games film. What makes this franchise special for talent?
There’s a depth and nuance to these characters that you don’t often find in something that could also be considered popcorn fare. When you couple that with the trust of talent with our filmmaking team, you wouldn’t be able to get all the casting we got if it didn’t speak to the overall joy and affection people have for both the material and the filmmakers. This just goes to show how strong the intellectual property is and how trustworthy the filmmaking team is.
You’re following in Suzanne Collins’ footsteps with her Hunger Games Books, but how do you think about expanding the realms of intellectual property such as Now you see me or opinionWithout exaggerating your hand?
Is there something we know the audience wants or is there something we can offer the audience that we think will inspire real, meaningful enthusiasm? This is the question. I don’t think so Now you see me 3 It could or should have been around two, three, four or five years after the last movie. Part of the calculus was recognizing how much affection people still had for both the characters in the film and the actors who played the characters in the film and evaluating what a reunion of those characters would look like. …When we talk about something like… [the upcoming sequel to] Dirty dancingIf you sat in a room and said to people, “Would you like to go back to Kellerman with the baby?” The emotional response you get is very profound.
The filmmaking team that has been working for the past nine or 10 opinion The films did an exceptional job, [and] James Wan has become one of the most prominent filmmakers in the industry since working on it [the first] opinion. What does it mean to bring back james to opinion Franchise and give him enough creative control? Hearing his pitch for what he’d like to do with the franchise, we think the fan base, old and new, would be very compelled to do so. The risks are that sometimes there may be such pressure to expand a franchise that audiences aren’t as excited about it anymore.
How can you think about the poor performance of a film like Ballerinawhich was an extension of John Wick?
Exits on Ballerina I think the second exits are more convenient for either wick Movies, so all credit to the entire filmmaking team for delivering what was ultimately a very satisfying film. He said that, Ballerina They are not created to answer a question. Does the studio want to do more? certainly. Can I think of any way that speaks to people wanting more John Wick films? never. The ballerina was never a character that existed in John Wick traditions. But we’ve been asked all the time since then John Wick 4 [about leaving] Ken [played by martial artist/actor Donnie Yen]In an interesting and very unstable place. What happens from there – and by the way, who is that character? Dhoni is now directing and starring in a film with his own style, taste and experience that does not copy anything from the film. wick world but enhances the story of one of the most extraordinary characters to ever emerge from the world wick universe ever. All of these reasons seem like real reasons for expansion.
You brought on the chief AI officer earlier this year. What role do you see AI playing at this point in the actual development of films at Lionsgate?
I’m personally proud of the company because I said early on that we think it’s important to understand this area. It made a lot of noise when we first said it, but then, everyone is saying it now too. What we don’t use it for is replacing the creative talent necessary to create great content. That’s not the intention, and I don’t for the life of me believe that’s the intention at all. It can be used in different ways in the pre-production process and in the post-production process to make films better or more efficient.
I’ve been paying attention to a lot of conversations about the viral AI video showing Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop, and there were plenty of people whose quick answer was, “Oh no!” My response was, if you and I were fighting on that roof, no one would care.
I mentioned building Lionsgate’s slate going forward at the beginning of our conversation. We’ve discussed a wide range of films, how would you define them?
First, having stable, healthy intellectual property that you believe in and have some evidence to support the public’s desire for more of it is a sweet spot. We think so Michael This fits the bill. this Hunger Games The book sold faster than any other book Hunger Games A book on history; Audiences told us they really wanted to know more. Resurrection [[Jesus]In two parts: I will say that in my travels around the country and around the world over the last 20 years, when people find out that I’m in this business, just among the general population, “Will Mel Gibson make a sequel to a movie?” Passion of Christ? is the movie I’ve been asked about more than any other.
Why is this the question you get the most? What is it about this overall resonance that feels unique?
passion It was the most successful R-rated film in history for years, and it’s certainly still in the top tier. He told one of the most important stories in human history, no matter what perspective you give it, and I think he spoke to – among others – a huge group of people who don’t feel like the traditional Hollywood community is making content for them. I’m not suggesting that passion It was made exclusively for a religious audience, but surely part of what made it so striking at the time was the lack of a film committed to being original to that audience. There are many more pieces of content now than there used to be.
And the last upcoming movie I want to ask you about is the movie you’re making with Johnny Depp. It’s his first American film since his highly publicized trial — in fact, since the pandemic. What’s the talk about bringing it back into the mainstream studio space?
standards for Sharp today These are the same standards that I talked about using in every film. Do we think it could be creatively great? Do we have a visionary path to market? Is there a rational plan of action associated with it? From a great creative standpoint, we thought the script was very compelling. We thought that with Marc Webb as director and Basil Iwanyk and Erika Lee as primary producers, we were in really good hands. The role actually feels like it was tailor-made for today’s Johnny Depp. And every piece of industry research I’ve seen in the last five years: When you ask people here and around the world to name their top five favorite actors, male and female, there’s not a list I’ve seen that doesn’t have Johnny on it.
This story appeared in the April 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
THR Newsletters
Sign up to get THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe subscription
