As Marvel Ent. ramps up to produce a slate of self-financed feature films based on its comic-book franchises, the company has named David Maisel chairman of Marvel Studios and has upped Kevin Feige to president of production. The announcement was made today by Marvel Ent. chairman Mort Handel as principal photography begins this week on Iron Man, the first film in the pipeline.
Maisel joined Marvel in December of 2003 and has been responsible for the conception and execution of the company’s new film production initiative, including the establishment of the $525 million non-recourse loan facility to finance films.
Feige has been with Marvel since 2000 and has been involved in all of Marvel’s theatrical productions including the X-Men trilogy, all three Spider-Man movies and Fantastic Four and its upcoming sequel. He is currently serving as producer on Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and will also creatively oversee Marvel’s TV and DVD animated projects and video games in his expanded role.
Marvel has made a number of other executive hires and moves as it works to implement its new studio initiative. Eric Rollman, who joined the company in 2004 as senior VP of home entertainment and TV production, was recently promoted to exec VP of animation and television for Marvel Studios. In addition, the company appointed Craig Kyle to senior VP of animation, Ames Kirschen to senior VP and exec producer of video games, Jeremy Latcham to VP of development and production, Stephen Broussard to creative exec and Joshua Fine to story editor for animation.
Marvel has had great success in putting out films based on its comic-book properties through other studios. Most recently, Sony’s Ghost Rider set a President’s Day opening weekend record and crossed the $100 million mark this past weekend. This summer will see the debuts of Sony’s Spider-Man 3 and Twentieth Century Fox’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Marvel’s first two self-financed and produced features will hit theaters in 2008 as Iron Man arrives on May 2 and The Incredible Hulk smashes on June 13.
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