January 20, 2012 8:20 AM
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Lions Gate names Summit execs to key post
(AP) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Movie and TV studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. said Friday it has named two executives from recently-acquired Summit Entertainment, Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger, as co-chairs of its Motion Picture Group.
The announcement came a week after the companies said that Santa Monica, Calif.-based Lions Gate had acquired Summit for $412.5 million in cash and stock. The deal put Summit's teen hit "Twilight" series under the same roof with Lions Gate's upcoming four-part series based on Suzanne Collins' young adult novels, "The Hunger Games."
Friedman and Wachsberger had said they would stay on to run Summit as a subsidiary of Lions Gate.
The "Twilight" series has grossed more than $2.5 billion worldwide since late 2008, and the finale in the five-movie series, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2," is due out in November.
The three "Hunger Games" books rank 1, 2 and 3 on USA Today's best-seller list with about 23 million books in print, and the first movie in that series is scheduled to be released March 23.
The announcement came a week after the companies said that Santa Monica, Calif.-based Lions Gate had acquired Summit for $412.5 million in cash and stock. The deal put Summit's teen hit "Twilight" series under the same roof with Lions Gate's upcoming four-part series based on Suzanne Collins' young adult novels, "The Hunger Games."
Friedman and Wachsberger had said they would stay on to run Summit as a subsidiary of Lions Gate.
The "Twilight" series has grossed more than $2.5 billion worldwide since late 2008, and the finale in the five-movie series, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2," is due out in November.
The three "Hunger Games" books rank 1, 2 and 3 on USA Today's best-seller list with about 23 million books in print, and the first movie in that series is scheduled to be released March 23.
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