Legendary Entertainment CEO Thomas Tull Exiting
UPDATED: Legendary Entertainment chairman and CEO Thomas Tull has announced his departure from the company he founded in 2005, then sold to Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda last year.
Tull will take the title of founding chairman of the company, with Wanda executive Jack Gao assuming the CEO post while the company conducts a search for a permanent chief executive, an announcement said.
Gao is group senior vice president and CEO for International Investments and Operations at the Wanda Cultural Industry Group.
Tull scheduled a town hall meeting for Tuesday afternoon to tell employees about the transition at the company, the maker of such films as “300,” “Pacific Rim,” “Man of Steel” and the “Dark Knight” trilogy. He sold the company to Wanda a year ago for a reported $3.5 billion.
The announcement said that Wanda “has built a solid platform and business to expand the release of the studio’s tentpole films into China and beyond” in the year since it acquired the Hollywood company. It pledged to “continue to fully support” Legendary’s production chief, Mary Parent, and her team to push ahead with their current and future film slates.
Gao in a statement thanked Tull for “his commitment, leadership and partnership this past year,” saying he would remain “part of the Company’s already rich legacy and powerful DNA.” The interim CEO pledged that Legendary would become “a next generation studio of the future with a far-reaching creative and global platform.”
Wanda has been expanding its reach in Hollywood, including the purchase last year of Dick Clark Productions — producer of several awards programs and the company’s namesake New Year’s Eve show. The Chinese giant previously took control of AMC theaters. The expansion into U.S. entertainment has been so broad that some American lawmakers have asked whether it is time to give greater scrutiny to the deals.
The statement made unclear who initiated Tull’s departure as chief executive. It said he planned to focus on his investment firm, which has money in multiple companies including Magic Leap, Oculus Rift, Pinterest, Heal and Zoox. He serves on multiple boards, including for his alma mater, Hamilton College, and for Carnegie Mellon University, along with the boards of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the National Football Foundation, the San Diego Zoo, and the Smithsonian Institution. He also owns a piece of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
In a statement, Tull said that “building Legendary has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.” He said that, going forward, the company is “stable with great leadership, so at this point I am able to leave and pursue the new interests and endeavors I have been planning.”
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