May 12, 2023
Lionsgate May 12 announced it has merged its movie production and acquisitions units under a single banner, to be headed by Motion Picture Group president Nathan Kahane.
The new, streamlined structure aims to optimize the way Lionsgate identifies, develops, produces and acquires a broader pipeline of movies for distribution, according to the studio.
As part of the consolidation, Charlotte Koh is joining Lionsgate as EVP, acquisitions and co-productions. In that role, Koh will be focused on leading the acquisitions team for the wide-release theatrical slate. Separately, Lauren Bixby has been promoted to SVP, acquisitions and co-productions, and will continue to lead the studio’s acquisitions team for multi-platform and streaming titles as well as oversee the growing targeted theatrical business.
Lionsgate’s Jason Constantine has been named co-president, Motion Picture Group. Constantine, who has driven acquisitions of the John Wick, Expendables and Saw franchises during his tenure at the studio, will report directly to Kahane and oversee creative strategy in both production and acquisitions.
Erin Westerman will continue in her role as president of production, overseeing the development and production of all of Lionsgate’s homegrown titles and will continue to report to Kahane.
Lionsgate distributes about 50 new movies annually, including tentpole theatrical releases such as John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and more targeted theatrical titles such as Sisu and Fall. The studio also releases 30 movies across multi-platform channels, according to Joe Drake, chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.
“In a business where content is more valuable than ever, our strategy is to meet audiences across the globe wherever they consume entertainment with the movies they want to see,” said Drake in a statement. “Bringing internal development, acquisitions, and co-productions together in one unit enables us to reach the full potential of our philosophy and strategy as a studio.”
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Koh joins Lionsgate from Confluential Films, a media and entertainment company. She previously served as head of digital media and unscripted for Hello Sunshine, head of video for The Huffington Post, head of original productions for GoPro, and head of originals at Hulu (a role she founded), as well as playing important business development and creative roles at Marvel, Fox Searchlight, and other companies.
“As Cannes gets underway next week [in France] … Charlotte’s vast experience in development, production, and acquisitions, alongside her extensive relationships throughout the industry, make her uniquely suited for this role and a fantastic addition to the team,”Kahane said in a statement. “She’ll make a great teammate to Lauren, who has helped stand up an expanding streaming business and whose expertise in creating a slate of multi-platform titles has continued to grow and prove increasingly important and profitable under her leadership.”