Producer Mary Parent has been appointed to a newly created post as vice chair of worldwide production at Legendary Entertainment. Her hiring comes three days after Jon Jashni left as president and chief creative officer of the company founded by Thomas Tull.
Parent will oversee all aspects of the company’s film, television, digital, mobile and new-media development and production activities, reporting to Legendary chairman- CEO Tull, who made the announcement today.
The company said Parent’s appointment “is timed to a new phase for Legendary,” after the company’s recent purchase by the Dalian Wanda Group of China. “Utilizing the company’s broader platform and reach,” the announcement said, “her mandate will be to continue to harness Legendary’s expertise in creating tentpole films and impactful television and digital series for global audiences.”
Parent has a long career as a producer, with Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s “The Revenant” among her recent credits. She previously served as worldwide production chair at MGM. Before that, she and Scott Stuber co-founded Stuber/Parent, which produced “You, Me and Dupree” and “Role Models.” After her stint at MGM, she founded and served as CEO of Disruption Entertainment, a production company that claims films with more than $2 billion in global box office. Parent previously produced Legendary’s “Pacific Rim” and “Godzilla.” She also produced “Noah” and “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.”
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One of her early jobs in the business was at Universal Pictures, where she spent nine years, rising to vice chair of worldwide production.
“Mary has proven to be the rare individual that has not just served as an executive and a producer, but someone who has done both with tremendous success,” said Tull. “Her creative instincts, relationships and an innate ability to put together a production slate designed for a global audience that is also based on savvy financial understanding are qualities we will rely on greatly as we enter the next phase of Legendary’s growth.”
Parent said in a statement: “I have loved being solely a producer, but sometimes an opportunity so unique presents itself, you have to jump in with both feet. The chance to be a part of building a truly global business with Legendary, in a climate where content is becoming ubiquitous regardless of the distribution platform or the origin of audiences, is just that opportunity.”
Upcoming on Legendary’s film slate: the video game-inspired “Warcraft” on June 10, the Matt Damon starrer “The Great Wall” on February 17, 2017, followed by “Kong: Skull Island” on March 10, 2017. Legendary Television is about to go in to production on the second season of the Netflix original series “Love,” from creators Judd Apatow, Paul Rust and Lesley Arfin. The TV unit also has the second season of “Colony,” a co-production with Universal Cable Productions for USA Network, and “Downward Dog,” for ABC in conjunction with ABC Studios.
