Kevin Wilson has been named President of Theatrical Distribution for MGM and its parent company, Amazon Original Studios.
This promotion was announced during CinemaCon, the annual gathering of theater owners and Hollywood studios in Las Vegas. It also comes as Amazon makes a big push into the theatrical space, starting with Ben Affleck’s Air.
Wilson essentially succeeds Erik Lomis, a senior distribution executive who passed away suddenly in March. He was a colleague of Lomis for many years.
Wilson’s promotion was announced by new head of film, streaming and theater, Courtenay Valenti Amazon Studios and MGM. She said Lomis’ death was a “very sad time and a huge loss to everyone who knew and worked with him”, but the companies were lucky to have Wilson.
“The integration of MGM Motion Picture Group and Amazon Studios is complete, and we are at a dynamic and exciting time. Six weeks ago, we brought together the creative development of AOM and MGM and production teams under the leadership of Julie Rapaport. Julie’s team is now executing on our larger film strategy across two distribution platforms. As such, now is the right time to merge the two theatrical distribution groups into one unified team,” Valenti said in a report.
Wilson helped distribute movies of all genres, including MGM’s Bond movies No Time to Die . In addition, Kevin was a key distribution executive at several start-ups including Summit Entertainment and Open Road Films.
Mark Boxer, formerly responsible for theatrical distribution for Amazon Studios, will now report to Kevin’s team as Professional Theatrical Supervisor. In his new role, Mark will oversee select specialty film distribution and Prime Premiere distribution.
. Please join me in congratulating Kevin, Mark and their combined team,” Valenti said. “Please feel free to share this email with any partner team. ”
