Following our exclusive that Disney is eyeing Lionsgate as it prepares for the coming Paramount-Warner Bros. war, insiders have now added more context, and the strategy is pretty obvious.
This is not about Disney being broke. Disney is still Disney. The studio is still doing massive business at the box office, recently becoming the first studio of 2026 to cross $3 billion worldwide.
The problem is not the company. The problem is the damage done to the brands Disney used to be able to count on without even thinking about it.
I’m told the thinking around Lionsgate is tied directly to that issue: Disney needs to win back the audiences Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar have lost, especially males and families.
“Disney is still doing very good business with 3 billion dollars in global box office,” insiders tell me. “But their brands like Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Pixar have taken a hit, losing as much as 75% of the audience, which is troubling, and needs to be addressed.”
That is where Lionsgate comes in.
Disney Needs A Bridge While Marvel, Star Wars, And Pixar Cool Off
As I reported in the previous article, Disney is looking at new material that can help the company rest legacy IP before relaunching it again. That point is now being expanded.
I’m told Disney is “scrambling for course correction” on Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar, but those fixes take time. In some cases, insiders say Disney may have to rest some of that IP before rolling out a new iteration.
That means Disney needs something to fill the gap. Not another lecture. Not another damaged legacy brand. Not another franchise that asks the audience to show up after being told it was the problem.
Disney needs material that can bring back the people who used to show up for Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and family theatrical events. According to insiders, that means males and families.
Lionsgate gives Disney a way to chase those audiences without immediately forcing Marvel, Lucasfilm, or Pixar back into the machine before the damage has been repaired.
Lionsgate Has The Audiences Disney Lost
The Lionsgate appeal is not hard to understand. The studio has event films, male-driven genre franchises, horror, faith and family movies, and a library that gives a buyer immediate depth.
On the general-audience side, insiders point to Michael and The Hunger Games.
Michael has become a monster for Lionsgate, grossing nearly $977 million worldwide and passing Oppenheimer to become the highest-grossing biopic of all time. That is not niche. That is global box office.
The demo breakdown tells the same story. This was not a narrow fan event. Michael pulled women, younger adults, older viewers, families, and a heavily diverse crowd, with exit polls showing strong Black, Hispanic/Latino, White, Asian, and other audience turnout. About half of attendees said they were dedicated fans, which explains why the movie played less like a standard biopic and more like a global event.
It also carries a strange Disney connection. Michael Jackson was a huge Disney fan and already fit the Disney machine once before through Captain EO. Jackson at one time even wanted to buy Marvel. The point is not that Disney needs Michael Jackson. The point is that Lionsgate just proved it can produce a broad, global theatrical event around a pop culture icon while staying away from the kind of controversy that has poisoned so many modern franchise campaigns.
Then there is The Hunger Games, a franchise that still has cultural weight and a new movie, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, dated for November 20, 2026 (both Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson return). It is also the kind of dystopian YA property that crosses male and female audiences while playing internationally, with obvious comparisons to Japan’s influential Battle Royale.
Lionsgate is also distributing the hit Hong Kong action movie The Furious and is reteaming with the director on a new movie, The Reckoner, starring Peter Dinklage and written by John Wick scribe Derek Kolstad.
For Disney, that matters. Lionsgate has IP that can play as event entertainment without needing to drag Marvel, Star Wars, or Pixar back onto the field before those brands are ready.
The Faith And Family Lane Is A Big Part Of This
The more interesting piece, I’m told, is Lionsgate’s faith and family lane.
Lionsgate has had success in that space through films like I Can Only Imagine, American Underdog, and Jesus Revolution. Its partnership with Kingdom Story Company has built a lane around faith, inspiration, and family-friendly storytelling.
That audience is not small. It is also not an audience Hollywood can keep insulting and then expect to return on command.
Insiders also point to the Tyler Perry side of Lionsgate’s history, which tapped directly into the Black Christian audience and proved, for years, that Hollywood was leaving money on the table by ignoring churchgoing, family-driven moviegoers.
Even more eye-opening is what Lionsgate has coming with Mel Gibson’s long-awaited The Resurrection of the Christ, the sequel to The Passion of the Christ. The project is now split into two films, with Part One dated for May 6, 2027 and Part Two following May 25, 2028.
Gibson has described the sequel as an “acid trip,” saying the story goes into other realms, Hell, Sheol, and the fall of the angels. In other words, this is not some small church-basement drama. It is being positioned as a massive biblical epic with a built-in audience Hollywood keeps pretending does not exist until it needs their money.
That is the exact audience Disney used to have under one roof. Families. Fathers. Faith-friendly viewers. Male fans. People who took their kids to Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and Disney movies without feeling like the movie or the marketing was sneering at them.
That audience has walked away. Lionsgate gives Disney a way to chase it again.
Supergirl Shows What Happens When That Audience Leaves
The warning sign is already sitting right there at the box office.
Supergirl just showed what happens when a studio loses the audience it thought would always show up. A $37 million domestic opening for a DC character after Superman opened over $125 million is not just a bad number. It is a rejection.
And the audience that stayed home was not imaginary.
I’m told the Milly Alcock situation is being viewed as a perfect example of the problem. When the marketing and press narrative alienates the “Christian male, father of 4” audience, you cannot act shocked when that same family audience keeps its wallet closed.
Hollywood keeps trying to pretend these viewers are disposable. Then the weekend numbers come in, and everyone starts looking for excuses.
Disney cannot afford to make that mistake forever. Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar were built on broad appeal. The moment those brands became smaller, louder, and more hostile to parts of the audience, the damage started showing up in the numbers.
Lionsgate gives Disney an immediate way to rebuild some of that missing reach.
John Wick, Saw, And Male-Driven Genre Franchises Matter
The male audience piece is just as obvious.
Lionsgate has John Wick. It has The Expendables. It has Saw. It has horror. It has action. It has the kind of genre material Disney does not really have under the Disney brand, but could easily use through 20th Century Studios, Hulu, or another adult-facing lane.
That matters because Disney’s own male-skewing brands have been hit hard.
Marvel used to own the male four-quadrant conversation. Star Wars used to be automatic. Pixar used to be the safest family bet in town. Now Disney is still making money overall, but those core brands are not pulling the same audience they once did.
Lionsgate would not solve every problem. It would not magically fix Marvel. It would not erase what happened to Lucasfilm. It would not make Pixar immune to brand fatigue.
But it would give Disney new ammunition while those brands are repaired, rested, or relaunched.
Netflix Is Still In The Mix, Despite The Denials
Disney is not the only company looking.
Netflix has publicly denied any interest in Lionsgate, with a spokesperson saying the streamer is “not interested.”
But insiders tell me Netflix is still circling, for a very different reason than Disney, and Netflix Film chairman Dan Lin is the figure to watch. We break it down in why Netflix is still eyeing Lionsgate despite the denials.
Lionsgate Makes Sense Because Disney Needs Time
The key word here is time.
Disney needs time to fix Marvel. It needs time to figure out Lucasfilm. It needs time to make Pixar feel special again. It needs time to stop bleeding audience goodwill and rebuild trust with the people who used to show up automatically.
Lionsgate gives Disney something it does not currently have enough of: fresh lanes into audiences Disney either ignored, insulted, or lost.
Event movies. Male-driven action. Horror. Faith and family. Global crowd-pleasers. A deep library. Franchises that can grow while Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar stop being overworked.
That is why Lionsgate “makes perfect sense,” according to insiders.
Disney does not need Lionsgate because Disney is dead. Disney needs Lionsgate because some of its most important brands are wounded, and the company needs a way to keep fighting while those brands recover.
The Mouse still has money. The problem is the audience is no longer guaranteed.
And right now, Lionsgate has exactly the kind of audience Disney needs back.
