Redbox Entertainment has announced an agreement with Lionsgate--yes, a strategic one--to have the Vancouver-based "mini-major" studio distribute its original movies.
Redbox will also license movies and TV shows for its AVOD and FAST platforms.
Redbox, which is currently in the process of raising capital through a SPAC-based initial public offering on Wall Street, aims to beef up its programming libraries with original titles that are amortized on the open global market before they reach Redbox On Demand and Redbox Free Live TV.
The Lionsgate agreement is probably Redbox's biggest yet in terms of underpinning the original movie portion of a business model that's based on transitioning around 40 million "late adopter" DVD rental kiosk customers into regular users of TVOD, AVOD and FAST services.
Recently released Redbox Entertainment films includes biopic Capone starring Tom Hardy; World War II thriller Shadow in the Cloud starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Nick Robinson; and Euro train heist drama SAS: Red Notice, featuring Sam Heughan and Ruby Rose.
“Redbox has a large slate of films coming in 2022 and beyond, and we’re excited to work with Lionsgate to identify those that are a great fit for their distribution model,” said Galen Smith, CEO of Redbox. “[Lionsgate President of Worldwide Distribution, Motion Picture Group] Ron Schwartz and his team have been terrific partners over the years, and we are excited to extend our relationship to tap into their world class distribution prowess to create value for both companies.”
Added Schwartz: “Lionsgate’s longstanding partnership with Redbox has created significant value for both our companies. That collaboration has evolved into a multifaceted distribution relationship across home entertainment, SVOD and AVOD platforms that allows us to continue to diversify our content offering to our consumers.”
