FOXA Fox Corporation

By Ben Fritz 

Jim Gianopulos, the longtime head of Twentieth Century Fox, has been tapped to turn around Viacom Inc.'s troubled movie studio.

Mr. Gianopulos will become chairman and chief executive of Paramount Pictures beginning April 3, Viacom said Monday. He had been in talks with the struggling media conglomerate for several weeks and was widely expected in Hollywood to take the job, left open when Viacom ousted the studio's former CEO, Brad Grey, last month.

Mr. Gianopulos, 64 years old, ran Fox for 16 years, some of them side-by-side with a co-chairman, turning out hits including "Avatar" and the "X-Men" films. He was replaced last year by his deputy, former Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Studios chief Stacey Snider.

Fox's parent company, 21st Century Fox Inc., and The Wall Street Journal's owner, News Corp., share common ownership

At Paramount, Mr. Gianopulos faces a major turnaround job. The studio lost $445 million in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, following several years of declining profits. It has ranked last among the six major studios at the box office since 2012. Among its recent flops have been family film "Monster Trucks" and action sequel "XXX: The Return of Xander Cage."

Many employees of the studio have complained about low morale after years of underinvestment compared with competitors like Comcast Corp.'s Universal and Walt Disney Co., whose film businesses have thrived recently.

Viacom's new CEO, Bob Bakish, has said he wants Paramount to make more movies in partnership with the company's cable networks like Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.

Mr. Gianopulos's talks to take over Paramount were slowed in part by an initial insistence by Mr. Bakish and other top Viacom executives, including Vice Chairman Shari Redstone, that they be included in decisions to approve, or "greenlight," films. Ultimately, Mr. Gianopulos was granted the authority to choose all but the most expensive films, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, a power shared by other studio chiefs. In practice, though, studio CEOs frequently consult with their bosses about moviemaking decisions.

Since leaving Fox, Mr. Gianopulos also talked to China's Dalian Wanda Group Co. about running its Legendary Pictures and to Sony Corp. about the open job atop Sony Pictures Entertainment, said people with knowledge of the talks.

After initially considering him for the top job at Paramount, Viacom had been in talks with producer and former New Line Cinema production chief Michael De Luca about being Mr. Gianopulos's No. 2 at the studio. Mr. De Luca didn't ultimately take the job, however, and it remains to be seen what if any changes Mr. Gianopulos makes to Paramount's executive ranks.

Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 28, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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