Sony has named the successor to ousted executive Amy Pascal. The company said Tuesday that Tom Rothman will take over as head of the film division at Sony Pictures Entertainment — a role Pascal had held for 12 years before her removal earlier this month.
Rothman joined Sony (SNE) two years ago and is currently the head of TriStar Productions, a film studio under the Sony Pictures umbrella. Rothman previously served as chair and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a division of Fox that includes film production companies 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures, between 2000 and 2012. During that period, Fox put out such films as Avatar, the highest-grossing film of all-time with $2.8 billion in worldwide gross.
“Tom’s creativity, strong talent relationships and track record of enduring films and commercial success are unparalleled in this industry and exactly what we are looking for to grow our film business,” Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton said in a statement.
The announcement comes a few weeks after Sony shuffled Pascal, the longtime chair of the company’s film division, to another role within the company. Pascal, who admitted earlier this month that she was essentially fired, had been caught up in the fallout from the high-profile cyber attack last fall that shut down Sony Pictures’ computer system. Pascal came under fire after a large collection of e-mails from the accounts of company executives leaked, including a number of embarrassing messages between Pascal and film producer Scott Rudin.
As Coins2Day reported earlier this month, Pascal’s new role at Sony will have her producing a variety of films, including the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot as well as the next installment in the Spider-Man franchise, which will be part of a collaboration between Sony and the Walt Disney Company-owned (DIS) Marvel Studios.
Rothman, who thanked both Lynton and Pascal in a statement “for their support” since he joined Sony, will report to Lynton in his new role. The company said he will work with Pascal “to ensure a smooth and orderly transition” while continuing to oversee operations at TriStar.
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