Legendary revives $3.5bn bid for Lionsgate as shares jump
Legendary Entertainment has revived its push to buy Lionsgate with a takeover offer valuing the studio at $3.5 billion, including $1.9 billion in debt, according to a Bloomberg report cited by Variety. The bid covers the standalone Lionsgate Studios business created after its split from the Starz cable channel.
Investors reacted fast. Shares in Lionsgate rose more than 15% on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, after news of the offer broke, Variety reported. Representatives for both Legendary and Lionsgate declined to comment on the report.
Legendary has changed hands before. Apollo Global Management bought a stake in the company for $760 million in 2022, and Legendary bought out Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group in 2024. Wanda had acquired Legendary in 2016 for no more than $3.5 billion in cash, around RMB 23 billion, according to Legendary.
The target is a leaner Lionsgate. Starz formally separated from Lionsgate in May 2025, leaving Lionsgate Studios as a separately traded company, meaning its shares trade on their own on the stock market. That business holds television and film production and distribution plus a content library of more than 20,000 titles.
Recent numbers help explain the attention. For the June 2026 quarter, overall revenue jumped 48% and the movie division posted income of $105 million, Variety reported. That quarter featured 'Michael', described as the studio's biggest cinema release to date and the first biopic to pass $1 billion in theatrical release. The company still recorded a quarterly net loss of $28.8 million, down from a $94 million loss a year earlier, with $425.8 million in cash and $1.9 billion in total debt at 30 June.
Legendary is not the only suitor to be linked with the studio. Banijay and Mediawan have expressed interest but have not made formal takeover offers. Bloomberg reported in July 2025 that Apollo-backed Legendary was weighing a deal, after earlier talks about a small joint slate of films to test how the two companies work together, according to Bloomberg. In July 2026, Reuters reported separate takeover interest in Lionsgate Studios from Bollore and Banijay, citing sources, according to Reuters.
For cinema-goers, this matters because ownership decides what gets financed, when it is released and where it plays.
More numbers are due soon. Lionsgate is scheduled to report results for the three months to 30 September 2026 after market close on 5 November, once trading has finished for the day.
