Earlier this year, Lionsgate bought Summit for big pile of money, and the question more savvy business types began asking was: "Why?" Granted, the indie studio was successful, largely due in part to the "Twilight" franchise, but it remained to be seen how Lionsgate would exploit the rest of their catalog to make the purchase worth the price. Well, now there appears to be some insight into their approach.
CEO Jon Feltheimer spent this morning on the phone with Wall Street analysts as the company dropped their Q4 results and revealed that the studio is considering turning "The Expendables," "Red" and "Step Up" into TV shows. While our stomach kind of churns at the idea, it makes sense. Both "The Expendables" and "Red" are stepping into franchise territory with sequels on the way ("The Expendables 2" this summer and "Red 2" next year) and are firmly in the Old People Doing Stuff mode that Hollywood is in these days (please see this morning's "Grudge Match" story). As for "Step Up," it's already spawned a successful series and given the plethora of reality shows around dancing, it kind of makes sense as well.
But that doesn't mean we want to actually see these things. The track record of movies-to-TV-shows is dismally low in terms of quality, with most failing to make it past one season. It'll also be interesting how they develop "The Expendables" considering 75% of the concept is that it features Action Stars Who Are Olds. What would the TV equivalent be? Kevin Sorbo? Anyway, it's just a kernel of an idea so we'll see how it goes, but it seems Lionsgate is going to be working that Summit back catalog pretty hard to squeeze some coin out of it. [Deadline]