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Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer to get Producers Guild’s Milestone Award

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer poses for photographs at the Lionsgate offices in Santa Monica.
(Ann Johansson / For the Times)
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It’s been a good year for Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Chief Executive Jon Feltheimer.

The head of the Santa Monica movie and TV studio reaped dramatically higher compensation because of a new long-term contract that he signed in May 2013. The agreement extended Feltheimer’s tenure to May 22, 2018.

Then, in August, the studio reported a better-than-expected profit of $43.3 million in its fiscal first quarter, spurred in part by lower marketing costs.

On Tuesday, the Producers Guild of America announced that Feltheimer would be honored with the Milestone Award at the 26th annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Jan. 24, 2015.

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The award, the guild’s highest honor, recognizes “an individual or team who has made historic contributions to the entertainment industry.”

“It is a tremendous honor and deeply humbling to join the elite group of recipients previously honored with the Milestone Award,” Feltheimer said in a statement. “The Producers Guild represents the creativity, innovation and dynamism that sets our industry apart from all others.”

Under Feltheimer, Lions Gate Entertainment has released box-office favorites such as the 2013 “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” which took the No. 10 spot on the all-time U.S. box-office list, according to the Internet Movie Database. It grossed nearly $425 million.

In the last year, Lions Gate has also released such hits as the first film in the “Divergent” young adult franchise. The company also has more than 30 television shows on more than 20 networks, including the Emmy-winning “Mad Men” and the Emmy-nominated Netflix show “Orange Is the New Black.”

Shares of Lions Gate Entertainment were at $32.85, up 14 cents, less than an hour before market’s close Tuesday.

Citing several of Feltheimer’s accomplishments, Producers Guild co-Chairs Todd Black andRyan Murphy called the CEO “one of the most accomplished leaders in the industry.”

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Past Milestone Award recipients include Clint Eastwood, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, director Steven Spielberg, director James Cameron, NBC Universal Vice Chairman Ron Meyer, Weinstein Co.’s Bob and Harvey Weinstein, CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves and Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger.

For more news on the entertainment industry, follow me @saba_h

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