Tom Rothman

Thomas Edgar Rothman (born November 21, 1954) is an American businessman, film producer, film executive and current chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group.

In this role, Rothman oversees all of the studio's motion picture production and distribution activities worldwide, including Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Classics, 3000 Pictures, Sony Pictures International Productions, Stage 6 Films, AFFIRM Films.

In 1972, he graduated from the Park School of Baltimore prior to entering college.

Rothman graduated from Brown University with Honors in English and American Literature, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and was an All New England selection in Division 1 Lacrosse.

In 1977, he worked as an English Teacher at the Salisbury School in Connecticut and coached varsity soccer.

He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1980 as a James Kent Scholar, the school's highest academic honor.

In 1981, he served on The United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit as a law clerk for the Honorable Walter Mansfield.

From 1982 to 1986, he worked as an attorney at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz.

In 1986, Rothman co-produced Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law and Robert Frank's Candy Mountain.

In 1987, he began working as an executive vice president of Columbia Pictures on all aspects of film development and production.

In 1989, he served as president of Worldwide Production for the Samuel Goldwyn Company.

He supervised landmark independent films such as Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Longtime Companion, Truly Madly Deeply, Wild At Heart, and The Madness of King George.

He discovered and championed numerous young filmmakers who went on to become successful, including Ang Lee, Anthony Minghella, and Kenneth Branagh.

During this time, the company's films won the Palme d'Or at Cannes three times.

For 18 years, Rothman worked at Fox Filmed Entertainment.

Rothman began at Fox in 1994 as the founder and President of Fox Searchlight Pictures and served the company for 18 years.

During Rothman's tenure, Fox films were nominated for over 150 Oscars and won three Best Picture Awards.

The company also earned over $30 billion in the box office and made the then two highest-grossing films, Titanic and Avatar.

Rothman also hosted Fox Legacy, a television series in which he provided background and behind-the-scenes information regarding the making of films.

Rothman was born in to a Jewish family in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1994, he founded and was the first president of Searchlight Pictures, one of the first specialty film divisions linked to a major studio.

Rothman was president of production for Twentieth Century Fox where he oversaw the majority of the company's film development and production from 1996 to 1998 and was president of Twentieth Century Fox Film Group from 1998 to 2000.

From 2000 to 2012, he was chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment (FFE).

FFE included 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Blue Sky Animation, and Twentieth Century Fox Television.

During this time, the studio was nominated for over 150 Academy Awards, won three Best Picture Oscars, earned over $30 billion in worldwide box office sales.

Fox had the best profit margins of any film studio.

Some of the films produced over Rothman's tenure include: Lincoln, Life of Pi, The Descendants, Cast Away, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Black Swan, Walk the Line, Juno, The Devil Wears Prada, The X-Men series, the Ice Age series, Rio, and several others.

Under Rothman's leadership, Fox produced Modern Family, Glee, and Homeland.

From 2007 to 2010, Tom Rothman hosted Fox Legacy, a television series in which he provided background and behind-the-scenes information regarding the making of films.

As Fox chairman, he became known for rejecting the idea behind Deadpool, claiming it wouldn't be successful, and making the decision to have the character (whose nickname is "The Merc With a Mouth") have his mouth sewn shut for the majority of his first film appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Fox Searchlight went on to distribute multiple Oscar-winning films, including Slumdog Millionaire, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2008.

Previously, he was chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment with Jim Gianopulos until his resignation on September 14, 2012, effective January 1, 2013.

In September 2012, Tom Rothman resigned as chairman and chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment.

That same month, Steven Spielberg announced that Rothman would produce Spielberg's Robopocalypse, for DreamWorks.

Rothman joined Sony Pictures in late-2013 as chairman of TriStar Productions and in 2015 was promoted to Chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, followed by the release in 2017 and 2018 of titles such as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Venom, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, Peter Rabbit, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Under Rothman's leadership, the Motion Picture Group was returned to strong profitability and experienced several of its most profitable years in history with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Little Women.

In 2013, Sundance Film Festival named Rothman to its U.S. Dramatic Jury, and he presented the Grand Jury prize to Fruitvale Station.

Initially responsible for the re-launch of the Tristar Productions studio, it was announced in February 2015 that Rothman would replace Amy Pascal as chairman of Sony Pictures' Motion Picture Group and would continue to oversee the properties he greenlit at TriStar.

In September 2018, Sony Pictures extended their contract with Rothman following the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Driven by tentpoles such as Spider-Man: Far From Home, Jumanji: The Next Level, and Bad Boys For Life, fiscal year 2020 (April 2019 through March 2020) was the film studio's best in over a decade in terms of both ultimate profitability and operating income.