Could successes like Saw II augur a backlash against Lions Gate?

Last weekend's stunning $30.5 million opening for Saw II has the film world chattering again about red-hot indie Lions Gate Film--in particular, about the unparalleled prowess the indie demonstrates in just about everything it tries these days. From green-lighting to acquisitions to marketing, writes the L.A Times Patrick Goldstein, LGF is stomping on convention and beating heavyweights like the MPAA and, most famously, Disney (rememeber Fahrenheit 9/11?) at their own games.

The Reeler gave you a heads-up about the budding LGF empire once or twice over the summer, which should naturally implode any day now when a major studio sticks an umbrella woven from $100 bills over the distributor's head. But in what amounts to a footnote in the swelling LGF hagiography, today's Variety chips in a little added perspective:

Lions Gate's bid to acquire DVD producer and distributor Image Entertainment has fallen flat. Image confirmed Monday that a special committee of its board of directors rejected a revised bid of approximately $85 million in cash. ...

"We have offered a full and fair price for Image," the company said in a statement. "It should be obvious to all that, in setting our price, we have not only calculated the value of Image's assets on a standalone basis, but also factored in the synergies we bring to the transaction."

"Factored in the synergies"? Not exactly the language of a spunky upstart, is it? I mean, that fancy talk might seduce LL Cool J, but after scoring about a 550 percent profit on Saw II, LGF's bank statements are finally outvoicing its press statements. In other words: Discount days are over, gang. Let the backlash begin.