Former Fox Searchlight Chief Operating Officers Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley have been promoted to Presidents of the specialty film unit.
Their former boss, Peter Rice, left in March to be the entertainment chairman of Fox Broadcasting.
Fox has given Gilula and Utley multi-year deals. They will report to Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos, chairmen of Fox Filmed Entertainment.
Though they have worked together for the past few years, Gilula and Utley come from different backgrounds.
Utley had been in the Fox family before joining Searchlight, working as the executive vice president of marketing and vice president of media, among other posts.
Searchlight was Gilula’s first job with Fox. He served as president and CEO of Landmark Theatres, which he co-founded in 1974.
Several of the movies that have been released under Gilula and Utley’s tenure include “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Juno,” “Thank You for Smoking” and “Little Miss Sunshine.”
