Lions Gate will be a minority partner in Maple Pictures and has entered into exclusive long-term library and output agreements with Maple Pictures for the distribution of Lions Gate's motion picture, television and home video product in Canada. Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. President Steve Beeks will serve on Maple's Board of Directors. Maple Pictures purchased a majority of Lions Gate's interest in Christal Distribution, a number of production entities and other key Lions Gate distribution assets in Canada. Maple Pictures will be the second largest independent distributor in Canada.

"We have tremendous faith in Brad and Laurie's management skills and knowledge of the Canadian martketplace," said Lions Gate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer. "This is a great opportunity for them to run their own company while putting our Canadian distribution capabilities in good hands and further reducing Lions Gate's overhead."

Lions Gate noted that Pelman's distribution background and May's legal and business experience create "highly complementary skill sets that should help foster the future success of Maple Pictures."

"We are very excited about the continuing growth of the Canadian marketplace, and we appreciate the opportunity that Lions Gate has given us to use our expertise to capitalize on this growth by setting up our own independent Canadian film company," said Pelman and May. "The steady pipeline of innovative, quality product that we will receive from Lions Gate through our library and output agreements will be a good foundation for our continued growth and success in the future."

Pelman joined Lions Gate in 1999 and most recently has served as Executive Vice President, Sales and Distribution, and Co-Manager of the Toronto office, where he had been responsible for overseeing Lions Gate's motion picture, television and video distribution businesses in Canada.

May joined Lions Gate in 1997 and has served as Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs and Co-Manager of the Toronto Office. She has played a key role in Lions Gate's major acquisitions and other production, distribution and financing transactions and has shared management of Lions Gate's Canadian operations.

Financing for the transaction was provided by RBC Royal Bank Media & Entertainment Group (Toronto).

Lions Gate is the premier independent producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library of 8000 titles is one of the largest in the entertainment industry. The Lions Gate brand name is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

www.lgf.com

For further information, contact:
Peter D. Wilkes

310-255-3726

Angie Burns

416-944-0104