What of Lionsgate post-”Hunger Games”?

Peter Bart weighs in on Lionsgate’s fate:

If “The Hunger Games” is the megahit it seems to be, its release could trigger an event in Hollywood that hasn’t happened in several generations: the birth of a new major studio. All that depends on the definition of “major.”

Based on a sci-fi trilogy that has sold more than 26 million books, “The Hunger Games” represents the first release of newly merged Lionsgate and Summit, a combined entity whose domestic gross may top $1 billion this year. That would be a record for an indie. Top execs of the company resist the word “major” because they don’t covet the overhead suggested by that term.

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Whether major or not, the new entity regards itself as a studio with plans to release 14–15 movies a year under separate Summit and Lionsgate labels. Its structure will deviate from that of the majors in that it will continue to rely on licensing its films overseas (retaining the copyright while hedging its bets). Further there will be no housekeeping deals, no stages, and a development program that is far more limited than those of the majors.

Major. Mini-major. Indie. As far as screenwriters go, the designation is pretty much irrelevant. What is relevant is if, indeed, Lionsgate increases the number of movies they produce each year, that means more gigs for writers.

However in terms of Hollywood history, if Lionsgate can continue to grow, expand its library of titles, and keep creating franchises [e.g., Saw, Twilight, The Hunger Games, Tyler Perry), it could achieve a size and permanence that has escaped a plethora of failed companies in the past. Outfits like Vestron, Skouras, Artisan, even bigger companies like Orion and Nelson Entertainment have all tried to expand and emerge as major Hollywood players, but the competition is fierce and the game they play is as risky as they come.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Lionsgate.

For more of the Variety article, go here.

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