Disney reportedly eyeing Lionsgate purchase to reach male, family audiences

The Walt Disney Co. is reportedly considering an acquisition of Lionsgate Studios as part of an effort to reach male and family moviegoers while several of its flagship franchises recover from box office slumps, according to a report from Cosmic Book News that cites unnamed industry insiders.

The report, published Wednesday by editor-in-chief Matt McGloin, is based entirely on unnamed sources and includes a claim from one of those insiders that Disney’s Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar brands have lost “as much as 75%” of their audience — a figure that comes from the anonymous source rather than any documented box office or viewership data cited in the report. Disney has not confirmed or commented on the report, and the underlying claims have not been independently verified. Disney did remain financially healthy overall, having become the first studio to cross $3 billion at the global box office in 2026.

Insiders quoted in the report said Disney is “scrambling for course correction” on Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar properties and, according to those unnamed sources, may need to rest those franchises for a period before relaunching them — a claim that likewise rests solely on the report’s anonymous sourcing and has not been confirmed by Disney. Lionsgate, the insiders said, would give Disney access to audiences it has lost, pointing to the studio’s “John Wick” and “Hunger Games” franchises, its faith-and-family slate produced with Kingdom Story Company, and its distribution deal for Mel Gibson’s upcoming two-part “Resurrection of the Christ,” due in theaters in 2027 and 2028.

The report follows an earlier Cosmic Book News item that first floated Disney’s reported interest in Lionsgate, tying it to the outlet’s characterization of a looming “Paramount-Warner Bros. war.” That framing refers to Paramount Skydance’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that WBD shareholders approved in April but that has not yet closed; it remains subject to regulatory clearance and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.

Disney would not be the only suitor circling Lionsgate. Semafor reported last month that Netflix was among several media companies weighing a possible bid for the studio, sending Lionsgate shares up nearly 14% in a single session. A Netflix spokesperson subsequently told TheWrap the company is “not interested and is not pursuing Lionsgate,” though Cosmic Book News has separately reported that insiders believe Netflix’s interest — centered on Lionsgate’s film library rather than its theatrical business — has not gone away.

Lionsgate has drawn acquisition interest before. Legendary Entertainment, the Apollo-backed studio behind “Dune” and “Godzilla,” was reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter last July to be exploring a potential deal with Lionsgate, though representatives for both companies declined to comment at the time and no transaction has been announced.

Lionsgate split its film and television studio business from its Starz cable and streaming operations in May 2025, a move company vice chairman Michael Burns has said was designed in part to make the studio a more attractive acquisition target. Lionsgate reported fourth-quarter net income of $70.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, driven primarily by the theatrical and ancillary performance of “The Housemaid” and the ancillary performance of “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” according to the company’s earnings release. That reporting period predates the theatrical run of “Michael” and the scheduled November release of “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” so neither title factored into those results.