Yesterday, it was officially announced by WarnerMedia that they’ve named Jason Kilar as their new CEO. This sounds like a solid get for the company as Kilar was previously the founding CEO of the streaming service Hulu and the SVP of Amazon.
Here is the full press release.
Media, entertainment and technology executive Jason Kilar has been named CEO of WarnerMedia, effective May 1. He will report to John Stankey, AT&T’s President and Chief Operating Officer.
Kilar, 48, previously was the founding CEO of Hulu and SVP at Amazon.
“Jason is a dynamic executive with the right skill set to lead WarnerMedia into the future. His experience in media and entertainment, direct-to-consumer video streaming and advertising is the perfect fit for WarnerMedia, and I am excited to have him lead the next chapter of WarnerMedia’s storied success,” said Stankey. “Our team led by Bob Greenblatt, Ann Sarnoff, Gerhard Zeiler and Jeff Zucker has done an amazing job establishing our brands as leaders in the hearts and minds of consumers. Adding Jason to the talented WarnerMedia family as we launch HBO Max in May gives us the right management team to strategically position our leading portfolio of brands, world-class talent and rich library of intellectual property for future growth.”
“In partnership with this world-class team, I’m so excited for the opportunity to lean into the future at WarnerMedia,” said Kilar. “Stories well told have always mattered, and they matter even more in this challenging time for the world. It will be a privilege to invent, create, and serve with so many talented people. May 1st can’t get here soon enough.”
Kilar was CEO of Hulu from its start in 2007 until 2013. He served in several leadership positions at Amazon from 1997 to 2006, including SVP of Worldwide Application Software. Also, Kilar was co-founder & CEO of video streaming service Vessel from 2013 to 2017. Additionally, he served as a board member at DreamWorks Animation (2013-2016) and Univision Communications (2016-2020). He holds a bachelor’s degree (journalism & business) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
WarnerMedia had been hoping to launch their streaming service called HBO Max next month, however, that potentially could be delayed as multiple projects have stalled because of the coronavirus pandemic. They haven’t announced any delays concerning the launch and could still be able to launch without original programming as their existing library could enough of a selling point to start-off.
Some of the HBO Max programmings includes a cartoon prequel set in the Gremlins universe, Dune: The Sisterhood, a live-action Green Lantern series, DMZ, and Japan-set crime series Tokyo Vice which had recently halted production with Michael Mann directing the pilot.
On the feature film side of things, it’s looking increasingly likely that both Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 could be bumped out of the summer movie season. The December 18th release date for Denis Villeneuve Dune’s could be also in question depending if they want to put either of those summer films in that prime holiday spot or if they’ll be able to complete post-production visual effects on time.
SOURCE: WARNERMEDIA
