Akin Ceylan has been promoted to chief operating officer of Lionsgate’s Home Entertainment Group, the “Hunger Games” studio said Wednesday.
In his new role, Ceylan will oversee the operations and infrastructure of the company’s physical disc and digital sales divisions, as Lionsgate adapts to tectonic shifts in how consumers are watching content.
To that end, Lionsgate has been more agile than many of its studio competitors and has shown a willingness to experiment with things such as simultaneously releasing films in theaters and VOD as it did with “Margin Call” and “Arbitrage.” Propelled by the release of “The Hunger Games” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1,” Lionsgate’s home entertainment group had its best year ever in 2012, achieving more than $1 billion in revenue.
An eight-year veteran of Lionsgate, Ceylan previously served as chief supply chain officer and executive vice president of operations for the Home Entertainment Group. Prior to joining Lionsgate in 2005, he served as senior vice president, domestic operations, for MGM, where he was responsible for their Home Entertainment Group’s North American operations.
During the past year, Ceylan helped negotiate new home entertainment distribution and replication agreements for Lionsgate with Fox and Cinram, the company said.
