Tubi snared a multiyear deal with Lionsgate to be the exclusive ad-supported VOD streaming service for 30 feature films.
The agreement encompasses titles not covered under Lionsgate’s Pay 1 theatrical output agreement with Starz, the cable and streaming provider that Lionsgate is in the midst of spinning off. Under the agreement, Tubi, which is part of Fox Entertainment, also will add more than 200 Lionsgate library titles to the free service.
Among the Lionsgate films covered under the deal are: erotic thriller “Shattered,” starring John Malkovich, Frank Grillo, Cameron Monaghan and Lily Krug (currently streaming on Tubi); cop drama “Pursuit,” starring John Cusack and Emile Hirsch (coming to the service on June 27); and “Wolf Hound,” about a Jewish-American pilot shot down behind Nazi lines during World War II, starring Trevor Donavan, James Maslow and Michael Wayne Foster (streaming on Tubi in the fall of 2022).
Tubi and Lionsgate teased that other soon-to-be announced “star-driven titles” coming to the free streamer will star Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Anna Paquin and Martin Lawrence.
It’s the third streaming deal Lionsgate has secured in the last two months. In April, the company inked a Pay 2 window movie output deal with Roku followed by one with NBCUniversal’s Peacock last month. After Starz’s Pay 1 TV window on Lionsgate films, the Roku Channel will have a brief exclusive window, followed by a Peacock exclusive window and then a second window on Roku Channel at a later date.
The deal with Tubi “reflects our ability to have multiple bespoke content licensing deals with an expanding array of buyers in every part of the content ecosystem,” Lionsgate president of domestic television distribution Ryan Lowerre said in announcing the pact. “We’re pleased to expand our longstanding relationship with Tubi, a leader among AVOD platforms, to bring an exciting slate of star-driven multiplatform films to their viewers.”
Fox Corp. acquired Tubi in 2020 for $440 million. The free, ad-supported service offers more than 40,000 movies and TV shows, including a slate of originals, and 125 local and live news, sports and entertainment channels.
(Pictured above: Lily Krug and Cameron Monaghan in “Shattered”)
