Lionsgate Canada

Lionsgate Canada
Lionsgate Canada
Formerly
  • Records On Wheels Limited (1973–2001)
  • ROW Entertainment (2001–2005)
  • Entertainment One Income Fund (2005–2009)
  • E1 Entertainment (2009–2010)
  • Entertainment One (2010–2023)
  • eOne Canada (2023–2024)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryEntertainment
Predecessors
Founded1973; 51 years ago (1973)
Founder
Headquarters
Toronto, Ontario
,
Canada
Area served
Canada
Key people
  • Jocelyn Hamilton (president)
Products
    • Film
    • Television
    • Virtual reality
    • Live entertainment
Revenue£941.2 million (2019)[1]
Parent
Websitehttps://www.lionsgate.com/canada

Lionsgate Canada (formerly known as Entertainment One, and commonly abbreviated as eOne) is a Canadian entertainment company and a subsidiary of Lionsgate Studios. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series.

The company originated in 1973 or 1974 as the Canadian music distributor Records on Wheels Limited. After it was acquired by music retailer CD Plus, the company became ROW Entertainment; with its vice president of operations Darren Throop becoming president and CEO. ROW later acquired U.S. music and home entertainment distributor Koch Entertainment. By 2007, the company—now known as Entertainment One—had begun to acquire other production companies and film distributors, including Canadian distributors Les Films Séville and Alliance Films. By 2015, eOne had begun to expand its U.S. operations, including investing in Amblin Partners, and acquiring a stake in The Mark Gordon Company.

In 2019, eOne was acquired by U.S. toy and entertainment company Hasbro for US$4 billion. The company saw cutbacks under Hasbro, which sold eOne's original music distribution business (now MNRK Music Group) to Blackstone in 2021, and closed its theatrical distribution operations in Australia, Canada, Spain, and the United Kingdom in 2022 and 2023. These cutbacks were part of a planned sale of entertainment assets not strongly tied to eOne's children's entertainment brands, such as Peppa Pig; which would be folded into Hasbro's intellectual property and merchandising business following the acquisition.

In August 2023, Hasbro announced that it would sell eOne's assets to Lionsgate (another Canadian-founded business) for $500 million; The deal closed on December 27, 2023.[2][3] The company's assets would then be restructured, with the main division initially becoming eOne Canada before adapting its current name. eOne Films was placed under Lionsgate Films, while eOne Television merged with other assets into Lionsgate Television, with eOne's unscripted production assets being transferred to the newly formed Lionsgate Alternative Television.[4][5][6]

  1. ^ "Annual Report 2019". Entertainment One. Retrieved September 17, 2019.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Goldbart, Max (August 3, 2023). "Hasbro Confirms Sale Of eOne To Lionsgate For $500M". Deadline Hollywood.
  3. ^ Spangler, Todd (December 22, 2023). "Lionsgate Studios Deal to Spin Off From Starz Values Business at $4.6 Billion". Variety. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
  4. ^ "Lionsgate Alternative TV Launches With eOne Assets, Hires Dirk Hoogstra". Deadline Hollywood. January 9, 2024. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  5. ^ Townsend, Kelly (June 7, 2024). "Entertainment One rebrands to Lionsgate Canada". Playback. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  6. ^ "Entertainment One's Canadian operation rebranded under Lionsgate banner". C21media. Retrieved June 11, 2024.