Lions Gate's Stock Slumps After 'Blair Witch' Performs Poorly

Shares of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. slumped 2.9% in morning trade Monday, enough to make the top 10 list of biggest NYSE decliners, following a disappointing weekend box office debut of "Blair Witch." The stock had run up 6.1% on Friday, in anticipation of a strong showing of the sequel to the 1999 classic "The Blair Witch Project." But the film took in just $9.65 million over the weekend, less than half expectations of $20.5 million, according to BoxOffice.com, while garnering a "D+" rating from CinemaScore. Analyst Eric Wold at B. Riley said the poor opening performance could put downside pressure on fiscal second-quarter estimates, with the poor CinemaScore indicating the likelihood for "weakening trends in the upcoming days/weeks from poor word-of-mouth/reviews." Lions Gate's stock has lost 1.7% year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 5.2%.