Warner’s Tsuijihara eliminates Robinov, elevates film bosses
The Kevin Tsujihara regime effectively began at Warner Bros. on Monday with the elimination of the studio’s top film executive and the creation of a new top management structure.
The company’s recently appointed chief executive unveiled new leadership for the Burbank studio’s movie division on Monday, promoting executives Sue Kroll, Greg Silverman and Toby Emmerich and confirming that film chief Jeff Robinov is leaving. The trio will lead Hollywood’s largest movie studio, a unit of Time Warner Inc.
The move finalizes a resetting of the company’s film and television management hierarchy by Tsujihara, who assumed his post in March and has in the last five weeks replaced Robinov and former top television executive Bruce Rosenblum with six people.
Kroll, president of worldwide marketing at Warner Bros. Pictures Group, adds international distribution to her duties, while Silverman, president of production, will also become president of creative development and worldwide production at that division. New Line Cinema President and Chief Operating Officer Emmerich will continue to oversee that production company and assume responsibility for Warner Bros. Theater Ventures, its live theater division.
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“This is the official beginning of the Kevin Tsujihara era,” said Bruce Berman, formerly president of production at Warner Bros and now chairman and chief executive of Village Roadshow Pictures, which has long had a financing and distribution deal with the studio.
“I’m personally and professionally thrilled with the announcement Kevin and [Warner Bros. Chairman] Barry [Meyer] made,” Berman said. “I think we are going to have teamwork at the company — everyone rowing together in the same boat.”
The Burbank company also said it has extended the contract of Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution.
Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group since 2007, was not mentioned in the Warner Bros. announcement. The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the executive was making arrangements to depart the studio after a falling-out with management.
For more than two years, the studio has been gripped by tension and turmoil as three executives — Robinov, Tsujihara and former TV president Bruce Rosenblum — jockeyed to succeed Meyer, who is retiring at the end of the year.
It made for a rocky period at the studio, which boasts such movies as “Man of Steel” and TV shows including “The Big Bang Theory” and has long been known for being artist friendly and stable.
Tsujihara won the bake-off to become CEO and will also assume Meyer’s chairmanship at the end of the year.
Tsujihara’s decision to appoint a trio of executives to run Warner Bros.’ movie group is similar to his approach in restructuring the television unit after Rosenblum’s exit. On May 15, Tsujihara appointed television executives Peter Roth, Jeffrey Schlesinger and Craig Hunegs to manage Hollywood’s leading TV production studio.
Kroll became president of worldwide marketing at Warner Bros. Pictures in 2008. Silverman has been president of production at Warner Bros. Pictures since 2011. Emmerich has since 2008 headed New Line Cinema, a unit of Warner Bros., which produced the recent movies “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” “Jack the Giant Slayer” and “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.”
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“Collectively, this team has more than 100 years at the company and broad experience across the film business,” Tsujihara said in a statement. “Which will ensure that Warner Bros. Pictures continues as a respected leader in production, marketing and global distribution.”
Film business observers said they were not aware of recent examples of studios appointing three executives to run their film divisions, though division partnerships — at Warner Bros. and elsewhere — are not uncommon.
Movie industry veteran Russell Schwartz, former president of theatrical marketing for New Line Cinema, said the trio would have success if the executives’ mandates are clear.
“It will certainly create an interesting dynamic,” said Schwartz, president of Pandemic Marketing. “These jobs are so huge, sometimes I feel like the more people involved the better. This is a unique way of doing it.”
Former Warner Bros. Chairman Bob Daly said the new arrangement appears similar to the structure that existed when he and Terry Semel ran the studio in the 1980s and 1990s.
“Warner Bros. has depth everywhere. They have seasoned people in all of these jobs,” Daly said.
Berman, whose company produced the Warner Bros.-distributed May release “The Great Gatsby,” said the studio could now “get back to what everyone does best” — movie-making.
“I didn’t take long for Kevin to put his team together and put his imprimatur on that decision and go forward with the business of making movies again,” Berman said.
Warner Bros. said Tsujihara was not available for comment.
The studio also announced that Veronika Kwan Vandenberg will continue as president of international distribution and will take over worldwide distribution responsibilities after Fellman retires. His departure date has not been set.
Hollywood has already begun speculating about where Robinov, 54, would land next, though there are no obvious openings at rival studios. However, given his track record at Warner Bros. — which released the blockbuster “Dark Knight” trilogy during his tenure — and solid relations with the creative community, Robinov is expected to attract strong interest.
“I think change will be good for [Robinov], and he’s a talented film executive and he will land well,” Daly said.
A big question mark remains for Warner Bros.’ film division: the fate of its partnership with Legendary Entertainment, with which the studio has a financing and distribution deal. Legendary, which co-produced the “Dark Knight” movies and made the forthcoming “Pacific Rim,” could leave Warner Bros. for a rival studio.
Legendary CEO Thomas Tull said last week that his company is talking to “everybody” — including Warner Bros. — and negotiations could be completed in the next two months.
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Times staff writer Meg James contributed to this report.
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