Warner Bros. Pictures distribution president Dan Fellman to step down
Dan Fellman, the veteran president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures, will step down from his job by the end of year, the studio announced.
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, the studio’s president of international distribution, will take over Fellman’s responsibilities and will report to Sue Kroll, who has been promoted to president of worldwide marketing and distribution.
Fellman’s departure was widely expected following the executive shake-up at the studio in 2013, when studio chief Jeff Robinov was ousted and replaced by a new leadership team that included Kroll, worldwide production president Greg Silverman and New Line Cinema President Toby Emmerich.
But Fellman, 72, was asked by Warner Bros. Chief Executive Kevin Tsujihara to stay on for another two years to assist with the transition.
His departure caps a 37-year career at Warner Bros.
“While Dan’s role was to run domestic distribution for Warner Bros., he really helped shape and lead the entire theatrical distribution business,” Tsujihara said in a statement. “It goes without saying he’s been an invaluable asset to the company, and he’s also been incredibly important and helpful to me personally .... We will miss him tremendously.”
The appointment marks an expansion in responsibilities for Kroll, who most recently served as president of worldwide marketing and international distribution, a role she’d held since 2013. Kroll joined the studio in 1994.
Kwan Vandenberg has headed international distribution at Warner Bros. since November 2000. She and Kroll oversee the release of the studio’s films in over 120 territories and supervise international theatrical distribution teams in Burbank and abroad.
“Entertainment is a global business, and combining domestic and international film distribution is the logical evolution of our operations,” Tsujihara added. “Sue and Veronika are great executives with global perspectives and expertise that will serve this new structure well.”
A former president of American Theatre Mangement Corp., Fellman joined the studio in 1978 and has been its domestic distribution chief since 1999.
During his tenure, Fellman and his team have overseen some of the studios biggest film hits, including “The Dark Knight” movies, “Gravity” and “The Hobbit” trilogy. The studio’s performance this year has been more mixed. Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” and the action flick “San Andreas” were hits, while other films such as “Entourage” and “Hot Pursuit” have underperformed.
The uneven results this year, however, did not trigger Fellman’s departure, which was long in the works, studio insiders say.
In an interview, Fellman said he planned to step down two years ago but stayed on at Tsujihara’s request.
“I’ve had this great run, I feel like I accomplished what I wanted to and now it’s time for me to turn it over to the next generation,” said Fellman, who plans to some consulting for the studio on certain projects. “I stayed longer than I anticipated.”
Fellman was instrumental in the industry’s conversion to digital cinema and also pioneered the theatrical release of films in the Imax format.
“Dan successfully challenged business models, introduced new thinking to the field and delivered record-breaking results for the company year after year,” said Bob Daly and Terry Semel, former chairmen and co-CEOs of Warner Bros. “He is affectionately — and deservedly — known as the godfather of distribution.”
Twitter: @rverrier.
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