Lions Gate Entertainment Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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November 9, 2023

There are 16 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Lionsgate Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. After today's presentation, There will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over Sameer Lei Shah, Investor Relations.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us for the Lionsgate fiscal 2024 quarter conference call. We'll begin with opening remarks from our CEO, John Feltheimer followed by remarks from our CFO, Jimmy Barge. After their remarks, we'll open the call for questions. Also joining us on the call today are Vice Chairman, Michael Burns COO, Brian Goldsmith Chairman of the TV Group, Kevin Beggs Chairman of the Motion Picture Group, Joe Drake and President of Worldwide TV and Digital Distribution, Jim Packer.

Speaker 1

And from Starz, we have President and CEO, Geoffrey Hirsch CFO, Scott McDonald and President of Domestic Networks, Alison Hoffman. The matters discussed on this call include forward looking statements, including those regarding the performance of future fiscal years. Such statements are subject to a number of risks Actual results could differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward looking statements as a result of various factors. This includes the risk factors set forth in Lionsgate's most recent Annual Report on Form 10 ks as amended and as also amended in our most recent quarterly report on Form 10 Q filed with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward looking statements that may be made to reflect any future events or circumstances.

Speaker 1

The matters discussed on this call also include the proposed separation of our television and movie production business For Media Networks business, we urge you to read the relevant materials that we and our subsidiary, LG Orion Holdings, have and will file with the SEC, including your registration statement On Form 10, which was filed on July 12, 2023, that includes a preliminary joint information proxy statement. The information in the joint information proxy statement will not be complete and may be changed. You can find these materials and other documents filed with the SEC free of charge at the Directors, executive officers and certain other employees and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies From shareholders in favor of the proposed separation under SEC rules. Information about participants and their direct and indirect interests will be included In the joint information proxy statement and other relevant documents filed with the SEC as available. I'll now turn the call over to John.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Nilay, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Since this is the first earnings call since yesterday's announcement, I want to start by saying that we're very pleased that the strikes are over with a fair and equitable resolution for all parties, And we can now all get back to work making great content for our global audiences. We had a strong quarter, And we're reaffirming our guidance for the full year. This is despite the negative financial impact of the strike, Which is expected to be approximately $30,000,000 a little less than we originally forecast.

Speaker 2

Our success in the quarter came from doing the things we do best: taking advantage of the diversification of our film and television businesses Utilizing new business models to monetize the fast and AVOD space, creating efficiencies in our infrastructure and remaining profitable at Starz, The SAW franchise is back with the return of Jigsaw and an innovative marketing campaign driving SAW10 To more than $100,000,000 at the worldwide box office, our multi platform releases together with our library complemented the success of our slate With strong contributions in the quarter, and they continue to serve as the ballast that takes the volatility out of our film business. We continue to grow our franchises with prequel, sequels, spin offs and franchise extensions. We're preparing the first of the John Wick theatrical spin offs, Ballerina for release next year. The prequel event series, The Continental, launched successfully on Peacock and Amazon Prime in the quarter, and we signed a deal with a leading video game developer for a John Wick AAA game. We're launching the first ever Hunger Games stage play in London next fall.

Speaker 2

And next week, we will open the first new Hunger Games film in 8 years, The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, for a whole new generation of fans. Digital revenues for Previous for Hunger Games are up approximately 500% over the last 8 weeks. Looking ahead, our planning, agility and ability to secure interim agreements for a number of films Has helped us lock our fiscal 'twenty five theatrical slate with a full pipeline of 14 movies. Releases like Ballerina, Borderlands, Flight Risk starring Mark Wahlberg Ordinary Angels starring Hilary Swank Imaginary from Blumhouse Shadow Force, starring Omar Sy and Kerry Washington, Rupert Sanders' Reimagining of The Crow And a new film from Sherlock Holmes director, Guy Ritchie, are already in the can or currently shooting. And now that the strike is over, We will finish teeing up production for several of our biggest fiscal 'twenty six tentpoles, including Highlander, Now You See Me 3 And the Michael Jackson biopic.

Speaker 2

In terms of our television division, we've been busy keeping our pipeline full as well. 3 weeks ago, Starz greenlit The Hunting Wives, a thriller from Lions Gate and 3 Arts. And today, I'm pleased to announce that Starz has greenlit Spartacus, the reimagining of 1 of the network's biggest early hits From Spartacus creator, writer and executive producer, Stephen S. Denight, who will serve as showrunner. Beyond these two shows, we're ready to resume or begin production on over a dozen series, including exciting new properties like Extended Family for NBC Our partnership with our industry leading talent management and production company, which serves as a source of financial stability and growth For our Television Business segment, at Starz, the renewed availability and performance 1st run studio movies from the Lions Gate Pay 1 and Universal Pay 2 output deals has reminded us of the importance of movies To a premium subscription platform.

Speaker 2

Movies like PLAYEN, Operation Fortune and John Wick Chapter 4, Which achieved the network's most first title streams ever for a movie, coupled with the 2nd season of the original series Force, Help to drive Starz return to domestic OTT subscriber growth in the quarter. That, coupled with the recent rate increase, Drove sequential growth in revenue as well, and we expect that subscriber and revenue growth will continue through the rest of the year. And as we wind down our Starz international business with our exit from the U. K, reorganize our domestic operations and continue our successful transition Towards a more digital future, we have significantly reduced Starz's overhead and continue to find creative ways to take cost out of our production slate. We expect the combination of these efforts to create solid margin improvement over the next few years as we focus on preparing Starz to thrive as a profitable and successful standalone company.

Speaker 2

In that regard, Jimmy will discuss the restructuring charges in the quarter. Turning to E1. We anticipate closing the transaction by the end of December. We like what we're seeing as we refine our integration plans We expect meaningful revenue and cost synergies along with the addition of significant rights and value to our library. On the strategic front, we're actively engaged in steps towards highlighting the value of our 2 separate businesses and expect to update you by the next call.

Speaker 2

In closing, we're operating in a difficult environment, but the quarter speaks to who we are, staying resilient and using every one of Tools at our disposal to keep our pipelines full, maximizing our assets, concentrating our resources in places where we know we can win And positioning the company for future growth. Now, I'll turn things over to Jimmy.

Speaker 3

Thanks, John, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll briefly discuss our Q2 financial results, provide an update on the balance sheet and then provide some details on the non core charges we took in the quarter. The Q2 adjusted OIBDA was $141,000,000 and total revenue was just over $1,000,000,000 Revenue grew 16% year over year, while adjusted OIBDA was up nearly threefold. The year over year increases revenue growth at Motion Picture and Media Networks and another quarter of segment profit growth at all three business units. Reported fully diluted earnings per share was a loss of $3.79 per share and fully diluted adjusted earnings per share Was positive $0.21 per share.

Speaker 3

Adjusted free cash flow for the quarter was $133,000,000 We are reiterating our fiscal 2024 outlook for each of our business segments as well as our consolidated adjusted OIBDA target of 400 $450,000,000 which at the midpoint reflects nearly 19% year over year growth. Because of the Accelerated recognition of minimum guarantees related to a deal with our Latin American bundling partner, fiscal 'twenty four Starz International segment profit Is now expected to be in a range of positive $35,000,000 to $40,000,000 Our adjusted OIBDA target for fiscal 'twenty four of 400 $50,000,000 adjusted OIBDA excludes this benefit as well as any impact from E1, which we expect to close by the end of December. Now let me briefly discuss the fiscal second quarter performance of our Studio and Media Networks businesses as well as the underlying segments compared to the previous year Quarter. Media Networks quarterly revenue was $417,000,000 and segment profit was $67,000,000 Revenue was up 5% as continued growth of domestic OTT and international OTT revenue more than offset domestic linear revenue pressure. Domestic revenue was down 5% year over year, while international revenue was up nearly 100%.

Speaker 3

On a quarter over quarter basis, domestic revenue grew approximately 1% as the impact of our June price increase Drove return to sequential revenue growth. Segment profit growth was driven by international as accelerated recognition of minimum revenue guarantees And soon to be exited territories was partially offset by domestic declines. As John noted in his prepared remarks, Starz will be exiting the U. K. Streaming market by the end of March of 2024.

Speaker 3

We continue to rationalize our international streaming efforts And this decision

Speaker 4

will be

Speaker 3

a positive impact on Media Networks segment financials in fiscal 2025, Strengthening its standalone segment profit, adjusted free cash flow and balance sheet. Specifically, as we enter fiscal year 'twenty five, Starz will be primarily focused on growing its segment profit and expanding margins in the U. S. And Canada, while the studio maximizes monetization of STARZ's content in international markets through 3rd party licensing arrangements with SVOD, AVOD and fast networks. As it relates to Latin America, the company continues to target an exit from the market by the end of December.

Speaker 3

International segment results For the quarter benefited from accelerated revenue we recognized related to minimum guarantees from our bundling partner in LatAm. While the acceleration of content amortization expenses partially offset some of the revenue, the Latin American business contributed a positive $27,000,000 to Media Networks segment profit in the quarter. We expect LATAM to contribute a similar level of segment profit in the December quarter. Excluding LATAM segment profit from the second Quarter of 'twenty four and the Q2 of 'twenty three results, Media Networks segment profits was still up 45% year over year. Now let me discuss our pro form a subscriber numbers, which for comparability purposes exclude the previously exited or to be exited markets of Continental Europe, The U.

Speaker 3

K, LATAM and Japan. On a pro form a basis, we ended the quarter with 28,000,000 total global subscribers, Including STARZPLAY Arabia. This represents net additions of 210,000 subscribers, Driven by a return to domestic OTT growth and growth at STARZPLAY Arabia, offset by linear losses. Focusing specifically on OTT subs, we ended the quarter with 18,800,000 global OTT subscribers, Which represents year over year subscriber growth of 11% on a pro form a basis. Now I'd like to talk about our Studio business.

Speaker 3

Revenues of $790,000,000 increased 21% year over year, while segment profit of $131,000,000 was up over 89%. On a trailing 12 month basis, library revenue at Studio was $870,000,000 Up 17% compared with the Q2 2023's trailing 12 month library revenue. Breaking down the Motion Picture and TV Studio businesses, let's start with Motion Picture. Motion Picture revenue was up 77% year over year to $396,000,000 while segment profit of $68,000,000 was up 22% year over year. Revenue growth was driven by the strength of John Wick 4 Home Entertainment as well as the impact of an increase in wide releases this fiscal year.

Speaker 3

Segment profit growth was further driven by continued library strength and was particularly impressive in light of a 185% year over year increase in P and A spend supporting our expanded release schedule. And finally, television revenue of $394,000,000 Expectedly declined year over year on a difficult comparison given the strike's impact on episodic deliveries. Segment profit $63,000,000 increased significantly due to the delivery of the highly anticipated John Wick prequel mini series, The Continental to Peacock In Amazon, as we mentioned on our last earnings call, the strike primarily impacts our television group. As you can see, we actually navigated the quarter quite well, and we now estimate the cumulative impact of the strike for all of fiscal 2024 Will be approximately $30,000,000 most of which occurred in the September quarter. Looking ahead, We expect the lingering effect of the strike in fiscal year 'twenty five to be between $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 This generally reflects the carryover impact the strike has had on episodic deliveries and increased cost on continuing productions They were put on hold during the overall industry work stoppage.

Speaker 3

Despite these factors, we expect the studio to achieve double digit adjusted OIBDA growth In fiscal year 'twenty five, before the benefit of E-one. And to clarify, as we prepare for separation, We define our studio adjusted OIBDA as Motion Picture and Television segment profit less corporate overhead. Now let's talk about our balance sheet. Excluding adjusted OIBDA from previously exited or soon to be exited Landscape Plus territories, Trailing 12 months leverage improved to 3.2 times. We continue to retain significant liquidity With $224,000,000 of unrestricted cash on hand at quarter end and $1,250,000,000 of an undrawn revolver.

Speaker 3

While we remain committed to deleveraging through adjusted free cash flow generation and adjusted OIBDAI growth, as we said last quarter, We expect a sequential increase of more than a half a turn in the leverage upon the closing of the E-one transaction in the December quarter. Finally, I want to talk about the $876,000,000 of non core charges we took in the quarter. First, we took a $494,000,000 non cash goodwill impairment charge related to the carrying value of our media networks asset. The goodwill impairment reflects the impact of industry trends Resulting in lower sector multiples as reflected in our share price and prolonged increases in interest rates. As of September 30th, We are no longer carrying any goodwill from the Starz acquisition on our balance sheet.

Speaker 3

In addition, we took $170,000,000 non cash charge Related to the Starz trade name asset that was recorded at the time of the Starz acquisition. In the quarter, we also had a content impairment charge of 2 programming as we move towards separation with a renewed focus on the North American market. The remaining $91,000,000 charge is Tied to our international business, including content costs related to our LatAm and UK Exits. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Nilay for Q and A.

Operator

We will now begin the question and answer The first question today comes from Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thank you. Maybe first one just on the guide. So I think you've done about $225,000,000 in AO EBITDA fiscal year to date. The library sales look like they're accelerating. I think you've said that this year would be a little bit back half weighted for AOIBDA.

Speaker 5

So, can you talk about why the decision not to necessarily increase the guide today? Is it that, you've just got a little more Strike impact that you said there's still maybe $15,000,000 to go. Is it just some of the marketing expense drag from the films that opening or just want to be a little bit conservative at this point. And then maybe specific to The library, could we get some color on what drove the strong growth in the quarter? I think it's been accelerating nicely over the past few.

Speaker 5

Is this a lot of consumer driven home entertainment? Did you have some major series deliveries or other

Speaker 6

Well, thanks, Stephen. I'll take the first part of that. Look, I appreciate your confidence in terms of why not increase the guide. Essentially we have if you look at it because we've effectively absorbed the impact of the strike which both John and I spoke to As well as we are excluding the LatAm benefit. So in addition, it's all without of course the benefit of E-one.

Speaker 6

But in addition to absorbing those look, I feel confident in terms of cadence. We have a strong second half coming up for sure. And feel good about where we are, but still early in the year and we look forward to the second half.

Speaker 7

And on library, Stephen, I would say it is a little bit of everything. I think overall, most of our series TV library licensing has been very steady. The AVOD market has been better than we anticipated. Our rev share quarter this year was this last quarter was the highest one we've had. So even with Maybe some downtick in the basic cable advertising world.

Speaker 7

I'm not seeing that in our AVOD rev share. And we've also been able to pick up a lot of really good high profile third Content. All the Quentin Tarantino Kill Bills and Jackie Brown have been helpful and The Chosen. So all of that kind of combined has been very helpful.

Speaker 8

Yes. I'll add one more thing that with the new Hunger Games coming out, actually our last 4 Hunger Games in digital are up about 500% in the last

Operator

The next question comes from Douglas Coupe with Cowen. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

Hey, thank you. I just wondered if you think that there's going to be any issue now that We've come to this extended work stoppage and people are going back to work. In the near term, does that create any cost pressure or Inability to produce content that you want to produce given that people can only work on one thing at a time and obviously everyone's going to want to ramp production back up. Any color you can give on that would be helpful.

Speaker 10

Hey, Kevin Beck speaking. The color I can give on that is that we're back to production immediately. We have 2 network comedies that start shooting again on Monday. We're Sprinting to get power book for Raising Cannon back into production, as you know, was Set to start shooting on the day the SAG strike began. So the new series is going to launch shortly and we're simultaneously getting ready to prep.

Speaker 10

So we're trying to mitigate the cost where we can. There as Jimmy mentioned, there are obviously some costs associated with Serious delays and there are definitely

Speaker 7

a couple of serious casualties that are due

Speaker 10

to the strike and I think you're seeing that across the board. We've actually mitigated those pretty well and the increase and enhanced costs both on the writing and the performing side, we will continue to manage our budgets and find And savings wherever we can to both mitigate against those and also pass along some of those costs to The buyers and everyone is in the same boat, so everyone knows those costs are coming.

Speaker 11

Okay, great. Thank you, Sheryl. Just quickly on

Speaker 12

the motion picture side, we were able to strategically really get ahead of it. We were able to secure a number of waivers And really lined our productions up so that as soon as we came out of the strike, we could be running the Michael Jackson movie starts in January. We've got a reimagination of Now You See Me ready to go in the spring Highlander. So it really doesn't have I don't think it's going to really impact us. I think we got ahead of it Pretty nicely.

Speaker 9

Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker 13

Thanks. Operator, can we get the next question? Okay.

Operator

The next question comes from Thomas Yes with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Speaker 14

Thank you. Yes, just echoing the nice studio outperformance again. Jimmy, you gave us some color into the double digit growth outlook for fiscal 2025. I was hoping I'd get some color on just the drivers of that, particularly in the light of some of the industry comments around maybe a more austere spending environment. Do you expect Catalog strength or should we think about maybe the slate and new episodic deliveries building as well?

Speaker 6

Yes. I mean, look, we've got a strong pipeline for sure across Motion Picture and Television. We're going to have a lot of carryover from fiscal 2024 on the motion picture side. I mean look we're excited about Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but also have a really strong 4th quarter lineup with Ordinary Angels, Imaginary. When you get into fiscal 2025, there are strong titles, Ballerina and others.

Speaker 6

So And in the context of the television side, yes, there's a lot of great programming there coming back post strike and as we move forward notwithstanding The headwinds that we mentioned where there is some carryover impact into 2025 kind of one time strike related, but we got a very diversified business there as you know between scripted, Unscripted, Debmar Mercury, 3 yards. So really feel great about that business. We're glad to be back from the work stoppage and looking forward to 2nd half of the year and going into 2025.

Speaker 14

Great. Thank you. Yes. And then on Starz, maybe just a little bit more on the restructuring. I think we're down to Canada and India as a subscriber base internationally, which still has a pretty healthy 5,500,000 subscribers.

Speaker 14

You helped with the sizing The LatAm revenue recognition piece, maybe help us think about what the appropriate run rate on profitability potential There for the remaining markets and then domestically the guide for a return to revenue growth and sub growth, is that informed by a content slate now that we kind of have moved past the price increase as churn improved?

Speaker 15

Hi, it's Jeff. Thanks for the question. If you look at the domestic business, we continue to look at the business and try to drive Up to a 20% on a steady state long term margin. What you saw in the company wide restructuring included the closure of the U. K, We really focused on moving resources of the business to where we see growth in the industry.

Speaker 15

And as the industry moves, we'll move resources around there. And so I think We netted out about growth 17% of the G and A in the business and the restructure as part of many Aspects to try to get up to that 20% margin, and

Speaker 5

I think you'll see in

Speaker 15

the back half of this year, you'll start to see the margin growth. We feel very good about Returning to subscriber growth even in a quarter where we had a rate increase, I think the Pay 1 and Pay 2 movies that came online Coupled with force really with a full complement of content for the first time since probably Q2 of 2021. And I think we had we forget that pay has always been premium pay has always been about big originals and big first run movies and that came back online. So Even in the face of a rate increase, we saw subscriber growth return on the OTT side. We saw sequential revenue start to grow.

Speaker 15

And I think as That rate increase settled into the subscriber base. You'll start to see that sequential revenue accelerate through the back half of the year. So feel very good about the business moving toward that profit kind of portfolio and setting up for a good standalone business post spin.

Speaker 14

Thanks, Jeff.

Speaker 13

Thanks, Thomas. Operator, could we get the next question, please?

Operator

The next question comes from Barton Crockett with Rosenblatt. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thanks for taking the question. I guess one just kind of definitional. When you guys are talking about strike impact, some of your peers that would use As part of that box office impact because actors can't market couldn't market movies, You guys aren't doing that. I just want to clarify.

Speaker 4

You're really just focusing on TV shows that were impacted. Is that correct?

Speaker 6

Yes, that's correct, Martin. I mean these are costs that are really one time. They happen to fall over the course of 2 fiscal years, but they're Directly related to the strike and not anything other does not include box office impact or anything else. So that's Separate, not factored in.

Speaker 4

Okay. And on that front, so we've got the Hunger Games movie coming out. And there's obviously some early talk about what the opening weekend should look like. And obviously, we're kind of in a different And then we were back originally with Hunger Games. But can you give us any guidepost for how to think about how you've risk mitigated this movie, The up, down kind of puts takes, given that this is historically larger production cost than what you guys typically do.

Speaker 4

And then on that front also, the library has been strong. And I understand, like, that the strike has impacted new TV production, but has the strike actually helped the library? And I know you said Hunger Games has helped, but I'm wondering if the strike might have helped as well.

Speaker 8

Hey, Joe, why don't you go first?

Speaker 6

Yes, you bet. So look, on

Speaker 12

The Hunger Games itself, it you've heard me say on prior calls how the economics of film are better than they've ever been, that's partially driven by the international side of our business, where we are getting 15% to 30% more in value from every title than pre pandemic, which is really just the result of supply demand, As well as really being the premium sort of remaining large supplier of big broad IP release films available to marketplace. So On a risk and opportunity basis, we've done really, really well on the international front. The domestic economics are better than they've ever been Well, in terms of the way we can spend P and A to dollars and the like. And I would just say that tracking right now looks really Strong with some interesting bits. There's a new younger female audience that's showing real enthusiasm as are men.

Speaker 12

I'm actually I actually left the world premiere here in London to come join you all. So feeling really good about where the movie lives in terms of An economic model and how it can perform in a week or so here? Hi.

Speaker 7

And this is Barton. This is Jim. I would also say On the library side, there's been a couple of things. First of all, if you look in 2023, half of Netflix top titles have been licensed titles, 50% of it. So They've really been aggressive on the licensing side from 3rd parties, a little bit of the suits effect that I'm sure you've seen.

Speaker 7

Also one thing in addition to what John was saying about Hunger Games. This year we had Wick, Expendables and Saw 10. And all three of those movies have other films That not only draft up with theatrical, they draft up in licensing and they draft up in transactional and the transactional team had a great year. So all of that really combined is really what's helping us in addition to just people being in a mode where they're using our content.

Speaker 4

Okay. That's great. Thank you.

Speaker 13

Thanks, Barton. Operator, could we get the next question, please?

Operator

The next question comes from David Joyce with Seaport Research Partners. Please go ahead.

Speaker 11

Thank you. A couple of questions on the, strike related effects. First, I was wondering if you had any similar TV The content is in the can that helped you maintain your guidance for the year? And secondly, related to getting started up again next week already, we've heard from other industry sources that it could about 3 months until the whole industry is really up and running. Just wondering if there's anything different with your business model, how you're able to kind of Get back started immediately.

Speaker 10

Hey, it's Kevin again. Just speaking to the last part of that question, just the 3 months, I mean, you got to think about where shows are in their life cycle. So the ones I was referring to, Extended Family and NBC, we had shot 6 out of our initial order. So

Speaker 13

many of

Speaker 14

those scripts were done and

Speaker 10

the writers' strike has been over for a while. So we've been Writing, but not been able to go back to production. Ghost is a big hit for us and BBC Studios for CBS. And we had been writing before the strike began. So in that case, those shows were kind of ready to go and Ghost is A 3rd season show.

Speaker 10

If you're talking about a drama that has not written, it will take 2 months or more to Get going on a writer's room and then move into prep and then start shooting. So every genre has a Slightly different timetable. You will see the broadcast stuff that is shows in its 3rd, 4th and 5th season moving faster than The streamers or the premium cables because they operate on a different timetable and the urgency of getting stuff back on in the broadcast cycle It's what helped bring the strike to an end and is what's informing some of the urgency around that. And Joe, you want to

Speaker 13

talk a little about your pipeline?

Speaker 6

Yes, sure.

Speaker 12

So for Fiscal 2025, we actually went into the strike with a full pipeline with a couple of waiver movies that will fill the back half of the year. When you look at our forward looking production pipeline, we are as loaded possible. We've been we have a content strategy that sort of relies on a couple of big branded all audience IP movies every year and then want to be in that faith space, the action space, leaning into horror as well. We got a fantastic mix of that in 2025, but when you look into how we're going to fill our pipeline after that, as I said earlier, We're launching Highlander with Chad Stahelski, who is behind obviously our big our Wick universe, and he's now setting off to deliver that movie for 26, we've reimagined now you see me with Ruben Fleischer, who is an absolute master Shepherding franchises, if you think you did Venom and Uncharted, couldn't be happier about that. That's going to start in the spring.

Speaker 12

We've on the Wick side, we've got multiple spin offs and Wick 5 that we started to work on right when the writers strike started and we've gotten back to work as soon as it ended. Our faith business is fully loaded with some of the best brands in that space. As John mentioned earlier, we've got our first Jason Blum movie and hope we can do more there. So very, very excited and have pretty much everything we need to keep hitting our stride.

Speaker 13

I think you've heard us

Speaker 8

say before. We have all of the ability to do anything else the major Studios do, but we do tend to pivot a little bit more quickly. And I think we prepped pretty well for this in film and television. And Frankly, we're up and running already and have full pipelines in all of our businesses.

Speaker 11

That's great. I appreciate it. I was also wondering if you have any kind of insights as to how the economics of the business might Change given the strikes resolution, and if that was starting to be contemplated in how industry deals were being priced, because now there Because you might be selling content in a couple of windows. I'm just wondering if there's anything, any kind of change in the industry dynamics that way?

Speaker 8

Yes. I think we're going through right now the agreement, but there's no question about it. There's going to be some cost attached And that's okay. Maybe we have to work a little harder to take some costs out of the business, Things that we can actually manage. One of the things that's going on right now is that Kevin on the studio side and Jeff are really working to be Really smart about the slate for Starz that they're putting together.

Speaker 8

And again, we've just got to be continue to be really thoughtful about the business and we and Buyers other than stars are outside buyers. We're going to just have to be smart about how we pay for things. And again, I think that they've come up with something that's really equitable for all the participants. And so we've all just got to figure out a smart way to pay for

Speaker 11

Great. Thank you very much.

Speaker 13

Thanks, David. Operator, can we get the next question, please?

Operator

The next question comes from Matthew Harrigan with Benchmark. Please go ahead.

Speaker 12

I'm sorry, I didn't detach from the queue. I was also going to ask you about the long term effects of the strike on the cost side. So I'm fine. Congratulations on the quarter and all the momentum you have.

Speaker 8

Thank you, Matthew. Appreciate that.

Speaker 13

Thank you, Matthew. Operator, are there any more?

Speaker 10

Go ahead.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time, which concludes our question and answer I would like to turn the conference back over to Milay Shah for any closing remarks.

Speaker 13

Thanks, everyone. Please refer to the Press Releases and Events tab under the Investor Relations

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

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