The Hunger Games continues to feed Lionsgate’s bottom line.
The Vancouver-based mini-studio on Thursday reported a huge swing to a second quarter profit of $75.5 million, against a loss of $25.3 million in the same period of 2011.
After accounting for the home entertainment release of the teen tentpole for the three months to Sept. 30, Lionsgate revenue was up 97% to $707 million.
The film producer also posted strong domestic box office from theatrical releases like The Expendables 2, The Possession and Madea’s Witness Protection.
“The quarter reflected many of the core values that have driven our growth over the past 12 years – creation and renewal of major film franchises, strong and consistent library performance and contributions from our diverse mix of businesses worldwide,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in a statement.
“With the home entertainment release of the first film in our Hunger Games franchise making significant contributions to our results in the quarter, we’re clearly on track to meet or exceed our expectations this year,” he added.
The strong Q2 earnings follows Lionsgate acquiring Summit Entertainment, which enables a look ahead to the Nov. 16 release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2.
Adding in the Summit titles during the second quarter lifted overall motion picture revenue to $608 million, up 178% year-on-year.
Lionsgate also posted sharply higher theatrical revenue, home entertainment revenue and international motion picture revenue.
The only revenue fall was in TV production revenue, which was off 29% to $99 million, compared to the second quarter of 2011 when Lionsgate delivered the first four seasons of Mad Men to Netflix.