Don Lin
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Behind the producer Dan Lin Lego movies and the new live-action adaptation Avatar: The Last Airbender, According to sources, Netflix has been named the new head of film.
Lynn steps into the role vacated by Scott Stuber, who announced in January that he would step down in March.
Lynn's name had been in the mix since the early days of headhunting, with former Disney executive Sean Bailey and twilight Producer Vic Godfrey, among a few. He left after a 15-year run at the Burbank-based studio with a Feb. 26 shake-up at Bailey Disney.
Signing Lin wasn't a slam dunk. Lynn was strongly associated with Rideback, his thriving production company and Rideback Rise. On previous occasions when he was in contention for top C-suite positions, the two companies were deadlocks. For example, in the summer of 2022, he was in talks with Warner Bros. to oversee DC film and TV, but those talks ultimately broke down over questions about the writeback.
Under the new contract arrangement, Lin will leave Writeback and replace his partner Jonathan Erich and Writeback COO Michael LoFazo as the production company's new co-CEOs. Lynn is set to start her new job on April 1.
Lin already has a relationship with Netflix. He produced a 2017 horror film obituary and 2019 Oscar-nominated drama Two Popes For the streamer. Most importantly, he tackled a difficult and high-quality serial adaptation The Last Airbender, which was a home run in its first few days, peaking at number one in 92 countries. He did Airbender When Netflix named its chief content officer in January 2023, Bela Bajaria ran the television unit and gained oversight of the film division.
Lynn began her career as a junior executive at Warner Bros departed And 10,000 BC., before he struck out on his own and founded his own production company. As a producer, his films have grossed more than $5 billion worldwide It is And Sherlock Holmes Movies, as well Lego movies.
Netflix is ​​entering a very different landscape than its predecessor. Stuber, who joined the company in 2017, used his talent relationships to make the streamer desirable to the Hollywood community. Once he achieved that, he expanded Netflix into blockbuster movie territory, courting filmmakers like Zack Snyder, the Russo brothers, Michael Bay and Rawson Marshall Thurber. Extraction, gray man And Knives out.
While the company hasn't publicly stated its film goals, people familiar with the current thinking say Netflix is ​​reducing its budget and the number of its original films.
