Summit Entertainment

"The Impossible," from director Juan Antonio Bayona ("The Orphanage"), offers a fictionalized account of one family's real-life experience of being caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed close to 300,000 people. The film premiered Sunday night to an intensely engaged audience at the Toronto International Film Festival. "The Impossible," starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, is part horror film, part triumph of spirit. The happy parents of three young boys vacationing in Thailand during the Christmas holiday are torn apart when the tsunami strikes in the middle of a sunny day. The movie illustrates the family's post-tsunami journey - the oldest son must help his very injured mother to safety, while the father is left with the two youngest boys, trying desperately to locate his wife and eldest child.

In the end, "Breaking Dawn" couldn't generate as much light as "New Moon. " The fifth and final "Twilight" film hit theaters this weekend and did incredible business, grossing $141.3 million domestically, according to an estimate from distributor Summit Entertainment. Although that is a fantastic start for "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2," the film came in just shy of the franchise opening-weekend record held by 2009's "New Moon" with $142.8 million. However, the final "Twilight" film could easily become the highest-grossing domestic film in the "Twilight" franchise, surpassing the record $300.5 million the third film, "Eclipse," made in 2010. Those Twi-hards who saw the movie this weekend loved it, assigning the movie an average grade of A, according to market research firm CinemaScore.

Bringing Hollywood's two biggest independent film studios and the blockbuster young adult franchises "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" into one powerful entity, Lions Gate Entertainment has agreed to acquire Summit Entertainment for $412.5 million in cash and stock. The two Santa Monica-based companies have engaged in on-and-off merger talks since late 2008 as Lions Gate has sought to bolster its library of film and TV properties and Summit's investors have tried to find a way to cash in on the lightning-in-a-bottle success of its "Twilight" movie series, which has grossed $2.5 billion worldwide over four films.

"The Impossible," from director Juan Antonio Bayona ("The Orphanage"), offers a fictionalized account of one family's real-life experience of being caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed close to 300,000 people. The film premiered Sunday night to an intensely engaged audience at the Toronto International Film Festival. "The Impossible," starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, is part horror film, part triumph of spirit. The happy parents of three young boys vacationing in Thailand during the Christmas holiday are torn apart when the tsunami strikes in the middle of a sunny day. The movie illustrates the family's post-tsunami journey - the oldest son must help his very injured mother to safety, while the father is left with the two youngest boys, trying desperately to locate his wife and eldest child.

Lions Gate Entertainment and Summit Entertainment are back in merger talks that would combine two of Hollywood's largest independent studios, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations who are not authorized to speak publicly. Should a deal be consummated, it would bring together one of the movie industry's most successful young adult franchises, Summit's "Twilight," with one of the most highly anticipated new series, "The Hunger Games," from Lions Gate. The two companies, headquartered around the block from each other in Santa Monica, have held on-and-off merger talks since late 2008 but were unable to resolve key issues of price and management control.

Roman Polanski may still be in Switzerland, but his movie will be coming to the U.S. The director, who is caught in legal limbo abroad, will see his new movie -- a thriller called "The Ghost Writer" -- released in the U.S. by Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the phenomenally successful "Twilight" franchise. The company plans on a quick turnaround, releasing the Polanski film sometime in the first half of 2010. "Ghost Writer" did not previously have a U.S. distributor. The embattled Polanski is currently living in his Swiss chalet after being released from jail on $4.5-million bail.

Two film veterans have become the latest Hollywood players to tap into the gusher of money Wall Street is putting into the movie business by arranging a $1-billion credit line. Patrick Wachsberger, chief executive of foreign sales and distribution company Summit Entertainment, and Robert Friedman, former head of marketing and distribution for Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group, aim to use the money from Merrill Lynch & Co.

Summit Entertainment's estimates of how many filmgoers outside North America saw "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" was low. Way low. After more information rolled in from overseas markets, the independent studio updated its estimate of ticket sales in the 24 countries where its blockbuster vampire movie played over the weekend. Its new opening weekend overseas total, $132.1 million, is $14 million, or 12%, higher than its estimate Sunday morning of $118.1 million. Combined with the newly updated domestic total of $142.

"The Devil Inside" was a surprise hit at the box office this weekend - a micro-budget horror film with no stars and plenty of bad reviews, the film came out of nowhere to gross $33.7 million and become the third-highest January opening in Hollywood history. But far from a novelty, "Devil Inside" is the first in a new wave of films that use the conceit of "found footage" - movies that blend fantastical plot lines with supposedly real video - due for release in the coming year.

Summit Entertainment has set a pay-television plan for its post-"Twilight" era, signing an exclusive agreement for its movies with HBO that runs from 2013 until 2017. The Santa Monica independent studio is switching away from HBO rival Showtime: Its current deal to distribute its movies on Showtime expires at the end of next year. The Showtime agreement, reached in late 2008, includes all of Summit's five "Twilight" movies, the last two of which are scheduled to hit theaters in November 2011 and November 2012.

Executives at Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. received significantly increased bonuses in the last fiscal year, following the Santa Monica studio's successful launch of "The Hunger Games," its acquisition of Summit Entertainment and a more than 100% rise in its stock price. Details on the compensation of top executives at Lions Gate were disclosed in the company's proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission before its annual meeting, which will be held Sept. 11 in Toronto.

Lionsgate has solved one of the thorniest staffing problems resulting from its acquisition of "Twilight" studio Summit Entertainment by keeping the marketing chiefs from both studios. Tim Palen, Lionsgate's chief marketing officer who is coming off the blockbuster success of "The Hunger Games," has signed a new deal that will keep him in his job through 2015. However, the studio is also keeping Summit's marketing president, Nancy Kirkpatrick, in her current job as president of marketing for the studio, which is now a Lionsgate label.

Combining Hollywood's two biggest independent film studios and the blockbuster young adult franchises "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" into one powerful entity, Lions Gate Entertainment has agreed to acquire Summit Entertainment for $412.5 million in cash and stock. The two Santa Monica companies have engaged in on-and-off merger talks since late 2008 as Lions Gate sought to bolster its library of film and TV properties and Summit's investors tried to cash in on the lightning-in-a-bottle success of the "Twilight" movie series, which has grossed $2.5 billion worldwide over four films.

Lions Gate Highest-grossing movies (worldwide ticket sales) 1. "The Expendables" -- $274. 5 million 2. "Fahrenheit 9/11" -- $222.4 million 3. "Saw III" -- $164.8 million 4. " Saw II" -- $147.7 million 5. "Saw IV"-- $139.3 million TV shows include: "Mad Men" "Weeds" "Nurse Jackie" "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" Management: CEO Jon Feltheimer and Vice Chairman Michael Burns ...

"The Devil Inside" was a surprise hit at the box office this weekend - a micro-budget horror film with no stars and plenty of bad reviews, the film came out of nowhere to gross $33.7 million and become the third-highest January opening in Hollywood history. But far from a novelty, "Devil Inside" is the first in a new wave of films that use the conceit of "found footage" - movies that blend fantastical plot lines with supposedly real video - due for release in the coming year.

Lions Gate Entertainment is putting the finishing touches on a deal to acquire rival independent studio Summit Entertainment in a deal worth about $700 million, according to several people with knowledge of the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. The agreement, expected to be announced within days, would bring together the studio behind "Saw," "Mad Men" and the upcoming "The Hunger Games" with the maker of the hugely successful "Twilight" films.

Showtime Networks said it acquired the rights for up to 42 movies released by Summit Entertainment, including the independent studio's new blockbuster, "Twilight." The premium cable network, one of the most profitable units of CBS Corp., will have access to Summit movies released from 2008 through 2012, including all films in the "Twilight" franchise. Summit Entertainment plans to release 10 to 12 films a year. This year Showtime did not renew its existing deals with major studios Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Lionsgate Entertainment in a dispute over price.

Executives at Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. received significantly increased bonuses in the last fiscal year, following the Santa Monica studio's successful launch of "The Hunger Games," its acquisition of Summit Entertainment and a more than 100% rise in its stock price. Details on the compensation of top executives at Lions Gate were disclosed in the company's proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission before its annual meeting, which will be held Sept. 11 in Toronto.

Lions Gate Entertainment and Summit Entertainment are back in merger talks that would combine two of Hollywood's largest independent studios, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations who are not authorized to speak publicly. Should a deal be consummated, it would bring together one of the movie industry's most successful young adult franchises, Summit's "Twilight," with one of the most highly anticipated new series, "The Hunger Games," from Lions Gate. The two companies, headquartered around the block from each other in Santa Monica, have held on-and-off merger talks since late 2008 but were unable to resolve key issues of price and management control.