Universal Brand Development has appointed two executives to its leadership team, the company announced Tuesday.
Universal Pictures’ former SVP of strategic planning, Ben Braun, will join the brand development team as chief financial officer, where he will be responsible for managing the financial planning and analytics team as well as serve as controller for the division.
Before joining Universal, Braun was head of business and corporate development for DreamWorks Animation. He also spent nine years as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley where he most recently served as executive director. He will transition into his new role in November.
Current SVP of finance and strategic planning, Santiago Capdepont, has been named to the newly created role of SVP, head of operations for brand development. There, he will oversee daily operations, systems and processes of the global business. They will both report to Universal Brand Development’s president, Vince Klaseus.
Capdepont joined Universal Brand Development in 2015. Prior to joining Universal, he held numerous roles at The Walt Disney Company, including chief financial officer of Disney Stores globally.
“The continued growth of our organization, which includes new businesses, departments and international offices gives us the opportunity to broaden our leadership bench by adding expertise and depth to our senior team,” said Klaseus. “Ben joining our team allows us to strengthen our financial analytic capabilities and provide data-driving analysis of our business on a global scale, and Santi’s wide-ranging consumer products background will help us continue to build the international organization worldwide.”
Universal Brand Development is in charge of driving expansion of the company’s IP, franchises, characters and stories through physical and digital products, content and consumer experiences.
Summer 2017 Movie Winners and Losers, From 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' to 'The House' (Photos)
Who killed it this summer, and who should hope to have a better fall? Check out TheWrap's list of this summer's movie winners and losers.
WINNER: "Wonder Woman" Apart from making more than $400 million at the domestic box office, the movie was critically lauded and united girls, boys, men and women all over the world -- doing did things no superhero movie has done before it.
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LOSER: "Rough Night" Unfortunately, Sony's "Rough Night" has only banked $22 million so far although it was produced for $20 million. Plus, it received mixed reviews from critics -- and one month later, a similar comedy (in that it starred several recognizable actresses in a tale of old friends reuniting with a wild night that gets way out of hand) performed better among critics and the box office.
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WINNER: Patty Jenkins Jenkins directed the second biggest movie of the year -- "Wonder Woman" -- and has been an outspoken critic about female representation in Hollywood. Plus, she is in the process of negotiating a record-breaking deal to helm its sequel.
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LOSER: "The Mummy" Tom Cruise's reboot of the Brendan Fraser films cost a reported $125 million to produce but has only grossed $80 million domestically. Thankfully, it played well overseas, but it still received a Rotten Tomatoes score of 16 percent.
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WINNER: Christopher Nolan Christopher Nolan resurfaced this summer with "Dunkirk," which has become a strong Oscar contender and was very well-reviewed by critics. It currently has a 93 percent "fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
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LOSER: "The House" You'd think a movie starring Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell would be a hit, but no. For Ferrell, it’s the worst opening weekend for any of his movies with a screen count of over 3,000 locations, even lower than the $15 million made in 2008 by “Semi-Pro” and the $13.8 million made by “Zoolander No. 2” last year.
WB Domestic Distribution President Jeff Goldstein told TheWrap, "We’re so disappointed. We had much higher hopes."
WINNER: "Dunkirk" As previously mentioned, "Dunkirk" received stellar reviews and raked in a solid amount of money both domestically and overseas. It was lauded as a "masterpiece."
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LOSER: Any Parent Sent to Watch "Emoji Movie" "The Emoji Movie" became summer's worst reviewed movie, even below "Transformers" and "The Nut Job 2." We just feel bad for the parents that were forced to take their kids to the theater to see it. And there were a lot ...
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WINNER: Ansel Elgort "Baby Driver" pretty much defied all expectations and had solid reviews but also made a decent amount of money. Many praised Ansel Elgort in his career-turning performance, and people loved the soundtrack of the movie itself.
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LOSER: Sequels "Transformers: The Last Knight," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" and "Alien: Covenant" all underperformed at the domestic box office. Audiences at home seem to be sick and tired of sequels, although those particular 3 raked in huge overseas.
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WINNER: Disney Disney's summer roster included "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," "Pirates of the Caribbean 5" and "Cars 3," all big blockbusters that raked in the big bucks -- although "Pirates" came in big overseas.
LOSER: Paramount Paramount received a blow this summer: "Baywatch" and "Transformers: The Last Knight" bombed domestically. Of course, international box office came to the rescue, but both movies were widely panned by critics.
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WINNER: "Annabelle: Creation" The horror genre is one of the most sustainable genres in the industry as it keeps proving that low risk-high reward pays off. "Creation" over-performed when it opened and also received pretty decent reviews.
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LOSER: "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" Luc Besson's latest sci-fi fantasy didn't do well domestically or internationally. It has only grossed around $172 million worldwide to date although it was produced for around $177.2 million. Poor casting, an unfamiliar story and the fact that "Guardians of the Galaxy" opened right before it could've been reasons it failed to launch.
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WINNER: Zac Efron's Abs for "Baywatch "Baywatch" was filled with hot bots, but all eyes seemed to wander towards Zac Efron's abs. The actor underwent a heavy workout regime and diet to look like that -- and we appreciate it.
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LOSER: "Transformers" As previously mentioned, "The Last Knight" failed to launch at the box office. Not only did it rake in significantly less than its predecessors, but it was also widely panned by critics. However, Paramount doesn't seem to care about audiences growing tired of the franchise -- a spin-off, "Bumblebee," is already in the works.
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WINNER: Warner Bros. Even though "The House" bombed, Warner Bros. has had huge successes this summer, of course including "Wonder Woman" and "Dunkirk."
LOSER: "The Dark Tower" The movie adaptation of one of Stephen King's most famous works unfortunately failed to resonate with audiences. It somewhat underperformed and critics didn't love the film starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba.
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WINNER: Tiffany Haddish Newcomer Tiffany Haddish received a lot of praise for what critics called a "breakout" performance in "Girls Trip."
LOSER: Memorial Day Weekend This year's Memorial Day Weekend was the worst since the turn of the century in terms of box office. According to numbers from comScore and Box Office Mojo, the 2017 Memorial Day weekend totals only amounted to $180.6 million, down 12 percent from the $205.4 million made last year and 43 percent from the record-setting $314 million made in 2013.
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WINNER: "Girls Trip" "Girls Trip" succeeded where other adult comedies failed. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee, the film has posted the biggest opening in the genre so far this year with a final tally of $31.2 million.
LOSER: "Emoji Movie" Yes, "The Emoji Movie" scored $25 million its opening weekend, but it was widely panned by critics and became the worst reviewed movie of the summer.
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WINNER: Illumination Illumination killed it this summer with "Despicable Me 3," which propelled the franchise into becoming the highest grossing animation franchise ever.
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LOSER: Sony Pictures The studio got hit with a double whammy this summer: "Emoji Movie" and "Dark Tower" flopped, and the studio lost its $200 million slate financing deal with Texas private equity firm Lone Star. Sony's weak run at the box office was the main reason Lone Star bailed on the deal, but chief Tom Rothman didn't help matters when he plopped his feet on the boss' desk during a disastrous meeting.
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WINNER: "Spider-Man: Homecoming" Jon Watts' take on the webbed superhero received a 92 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, has grossed over $737 million worldwide and has already spawned sequel. We'd say it's definitely a winner.
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LOSER: August Let's be honest -- August has been kind of a dud. In the past two weeks, no big releases were unveiled, and although mid-August through early September is known to be sleepy, this year has been exceptionally slow. According to The Guardian, this August is down 35 percent from last year.
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WINNER: DC Execs After the gloominess of “Batman v Superman” and “Suicide Squad,” a team of DC executives and creatives looked for a new guiding philosophy. Three executives — Kevin Tsujihara, chairman of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Greg Silverman, the former president of Creative Development and Worldwide Production and Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Consumer Products — decided to give oversight of the DC film projects to the dynamic duo of Geoff Johns and Jon Berg. The duo helped "Wonder Woman" become this summer's smash hit and course corrected DC movies.
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Warner Bros. had a great few months — but other studios, filmmakers and stars weren’t so lucky
Who killed it this summer, and who should hope to have a better fall? Check out TheWrap's list of this summer's movie winners and losers.
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