Legendary Reportedly Makes a Play for Lionsgate, and Wall Street Is Betting It’s for Real

Hollywood’s consolidation era keeps producing plot twists, and the latest one involves Legendary and Lionsgate. Just weeks after one of the biggest media mergers in history closed, another studio is back in the spotlight as a possible takeover target. It’s a story that touches franchises, distribution muscle and a lot of money.

The backdrop is a deal that reshaped the industry. Paramount Skydance completed its roughly $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on October 6, with David Ellison at the helm of the combined company, now simply called Skydance. That brought HBO Max, Paramount+, CBS, CNN and franchises ranging from ‘Harry Potter’ to ‘Top Gun’ under one roof. It also left every other mid-sized studio wondering where it fits.

On Tuesday, October 20, a Bloomberg report added a fresh chapter. According to the report, Legendary Entertainment revived talks with Lionsgate and submitted a takeover offer. Lionsgate shares jumped more than 15% in afternoon trading, and the stock closed up roughly 17%, around $12.39, according to market data.

Neither company has commented. Representatives for Legendary and Lionsgate declined to comment, and the specific terms of the offer weren’t disclosed. The report also arrives just weeks before Lionsgate is due to report quarterly earnings on November 5.

#Skydance’s success in buying two Hollywood studios may have opened a Pandora Box, inspiring other production companies to climb the ladder. And oh boy, it’s happening quickly, as #Dune & #Godzilla films production company #Legendary is reportedly bidding to acquire #Lionsgate, what caused #Lionsgate’s stock to skyrocket almost +17% this TUE. So far, none of the companies confirm or deny the bid, and there have been other recent false reports involving possible #Lionsgate’s acquisition, but for some reason this time #WallStreet seems to be sure it’s actually happening. We will have to wait and see…

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) October 20, 2026

This isn’t a brand-new courtship. Legendary first approached Lionsgate in mid-2025, after the studio finished separating from Starz in May of that year. Early talks reportedly centered on a partnership to make a handful of films, so Legendary could gauge how the two companies worked together before deciding on an offer.

Since then, the companies have reportedly held intermittent discussions. Lionsgate has also been pressured by an activist investor, Anson Funds, which holds roughly a 1.5% stake and has met with the board to discuss M&A. Other suitors, including Netflix and Banijay Group, have reportedly also kicked the tires, although Legendary has re-emerged as the most likely buyer.

Legendary, led by CEO Josh Grode and owned by Apollo Global Management and management, is behind ‘Dune’, ‘Godzilla’ and ‘A Minecraft Movie’, which grossed $955 million worldwide. Its productions have grossed more than $20 billion in aggregate. Grode said back in 2024 that he planned to tap Apollo’s finances for billions of dollars in takeovers, and the exit of Dalian Wanda removed the foreign-ownership hurdle that once complicated large deals.

Lionsgate offers a very different kind of asset. It owns ‘John Wick’, ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Twilight’ and ‘Saw’, along with a library of more than 20,000 titles. As of June 30, it held $425.8 million in cash against $1.9 billion in total debt, and it carries a market value of roughly $3.5 billion.

For Legendary, the biggest prize may be distribution. The studio currently releases films through Skydance’s Paramount, and ‘Street Fighter’ just opened atop the box office. Owning Lionsgate would give it its own theatrical arm, plus a library that generates roughly $1 billion in annual revenue.

Lionsgate has had a better year than it did in 2024, when it was dogged by flops like ‘The Crow’, ‘Megalopolis’ and ‘Borderlands’. ‘Michael’ changed the narrative when it opened to $217 million globally, Lionsgate’s biggest opening since the pandemic, and the stock climbed 8% that day. The biopic later became the studio’s first film to cross $1 billion worldwide.

With ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’ and other tentpoles on the way, Lionsgate also looks stronger on paper than it did a year ago. That helps explain why the market is treating this report as credible. The studio has been described as Hollywood’s favorite M&A target that never seems to get snapped up, but this time there’s a reported formal offer.

Nothing is confirmed until one of the companies speaks, and earlier reports about Lionsgate’s sale have come and gone before. The November 5 earnings report is the next natural moment for the studio to address the speculation. Until then, the market is doing the talking.

Whatever happens, the contours of the industry are shifting quickly, and this bid shows that a freshly merged giant isn’t the only game in town.

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