UPDATE: Jeff Sneider confirms our report in his own report about Netflix’s new mandates, which mentions faith-based content and more.
In our exclusive on Disney looking to Lionsgate to win back the male and family audiences it lost, we noted Disney is not the only company circling the studio.
This is the Netflix side of the story, and it comes with a twist.
Netflix has publicly denied any interest in Lionsgate. But insiders tell me the streamer is still circling the studio, just for a very different reason than Disney.
Netflix Denies Lionsgate Interest
The chatter started when Semafor reported Netflix was one of several media companies interested in acquiring Lionsgate. The market reacted fast, with Lionsgate shares jumping around 14 percent to an all-time high.
Then Netflix shut it down. A spokesperson told the trades the company is “not interested and is not pursuing Lionsgate,” and Lionsgate stock gave back much of the gain.
Here is the context that matters. The denial comes after Netflix lost the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, walking away with a $2.8 billion breakup fee, and after it missed out on Roku, which went to Fox.
Even Semafor noted Netflix had not submitted a formal indication of interest in Lionsgate, but still reported the streamer is looking for acquisitions after those two losses.
In other words, a flat “not interested” in the middle of a mergers and acquisitions frenzy is not the same thing as “never.” These denials are standard when talks are early, unofficial, or not yet active. The market knows it, which is why the speculation did not disappear after Netflix issued the statement.
Why Insiders Say Netflix Is Still Circling Lionsgate
I’m told Netflix’s interest is real, but it is not the same play Disney is making.
Disney wants Lionsgate for theatrical firepower, franchise reach, and the ability to win back males and families while Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar recover.
Netflix, insiders say, is not looking at Lionsgate as a theatrical engine. The streamer is looking at the library.
The streaming wars have changed. This is no longer just about subscriber growth. It is about library strength, audience retention, global depth, and keeping viewers inside the app. Lionsgate gives Netflix all of that in one move.
So while Disney sees Lionsgate as a way to rebuild theatrical audience reach, Netflix sees it as a way to bulk up the streaming catalog. Two very different buyers, circling the same studio, for two very different reasons.
Netflix Runs On Its Catalog, Not Just New Titles
This is not just insider talk. Netflix’s own numbers show how much of its business runs on catalog rather than whatever is newest on the service.
In its most recent engagement report, covering the first half of 2025, Netflix said nearly half of all viewing of its original titles went to shows and movies that premiered in 2023 or earlier. Older series like Orange Is the New Black, Ozark, and Money Heist each pulled more than 100 million hours long after they stopped being new.
Licensed content tells the same story. In Netflix’s first engagement report, licensed titles accounted for roughly 45 percent of all viewing, and the company singled out the demand for older, licensed titles as a major driver of value. By other measures, only about a quarter of viewing time has gone to titles less than a year old.
That is the whole game for a streamer. New originals get the headlines, but the catalog is what keeps people in the app and holds down churn. A studio like Lionsgate, with a deep film and television library, is exactly the kind of catalog that keeps subscribers watching month after month, which is precisely why insiders say Netflix wants it.
Producers Guild of America YouTube
Dan Lin Is The Netflix Figure To Watch
This is where Netflix Film chairman Dan Lin becomes the figure to watch, because his background lines up with the strategy almost perfectly.
Lin is a former Warner Bros. executive. Back in 2009, he had Suicide Squad on his front burner, describing it as a supervillain movie, and he was attached to George Miller’s canceled Justice League: Mortal.
In 2022, Lin was in talks to run DC Studios before the job went to James Gunn and Peter Safran.
On the production side, Lin built the kind of franchise résumé most executives would kill for. He produced The Lego Movie and Stephen King’s It, and he partnered with Disney on live-action hits including Aladdin and Lilo & Stitch.
So the man running Netflix’s film division knows franchise IP, knows the Warner and DC libraries from the inside, and understands exactly what a deep catalog is worth. That is the lens he would bring to a studio like Lionsgate.
Dan Lin’s Faith Background Also Matters
There is one more piece that makes the Lionsgate fit even more interesting, and it ties directly into the faith and family lane that makes the studio so valuable.
Lin has a documented faith background. He keynoted the Biola Media Conference, described as the nation’s largest conference for Christians in the entertainment industry, and he and his family attend Ecclesia Church in Hollywood.
I’m told that background makes Lin well aware of the value in faith and family audiences, which is exactly the lane Lionsgate has cultivated better than most major studios.
Lionsgate has built that audience through its Kingdom Story Company partnership and faith-based hits like I Can Only Imagine, American Underdog, and Jesus Revolution. The studio also has Mel Gibson’s upcoming The Resurrection of the Christ, which is being split into two parts and already has the kind of built-in audience Hollywood keeps pretending does not exist.
Put simply, a Netflix run by Dan Lin would be handing a faith-aware executive the keys to the studio with one of the strongest faith and family pipelines in Hollywood. That is not a small detail.
The Lionsgate Library Is The Prize
Strip away the denials, and the reason Lionsgate keeps drawing interest is obvious. The library is the prize.
On the film side, Lionsgate has John Wick, The Hunger Games, and Twilight. On the television side, it has prestige titles like Mad Men and Weeds.
The studio also just proved its theatrical muscle with Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic that became its highest-grossing film ever.
For Netflix, that is instant depth and global appeal dropped straight into the catalog. For Disney, it is theatrical ammunition while Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar get repaired, rested, or relaunched.
Different strategy. Same asset. Same reason the denials have not killed the speculation.
Netflix Wants The Catalog, Disney Wants The Audience
Netflix can say it is not interested. That does not mean the interest is not there.
What my sources describe is a streamer that lost Warner Bros. Discovery, missed out on Roku, still wants to grow, and sees Lionsgate as a way to add the library depth the streaming wars now demand.
Disney wants Lionsgate to win back the audiences it lost. Netflix wants Lionsgate to deepen its catalog.
Different goals. Same studio. A lot of smoke. And a lot of reasons to keep watching.
For the Disney side of this story, read our report on why Disney is looking to Lionsgate to win back males and families, and how it ties into Disney prepping for the Paramount-WBD war.
