Warner Bros Pictures President Of Production & Development Courtenay Valenti Departing Studio After Three Decade-Plus Run
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: After a 33-year run at Warner Bros Pictures, and lots of hits including the Lego franchise, the last four Harry Potter films, multi-Oscar winner Mad Max: Fury Road and this summer’s hit Elvis, Courtenay Valenti, the studio’s President, Production and Development, has decided to leave.While’s there been a lot of news about cuts at Warner Bros Discovery, Valenti’s departure is not that.
This is a highly respected studio executive with a great streak who is looking to move on with what’s next in life. Valenti will depart at the end of October, and leaves behind a keen production staff in Kevin McCormick, Jesse Ehrman, Sheila Walcott and Cate Adams under Warner Bros.
Pictures Group co-chairs and CEOs, Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy.Recent and upcoming pics Valenti was taking charge of included Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, which brought older adults back to cinemas, grossing close to $300 million worldwide, and become the Australian filmmaker’s highest-grossing movie stateside at $148M.
Valenti also shepherded the recent Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (in fact, the entire Fantastic Beasts franchise); Greta Gerwig’s Barbie starring Margot Robbie in the title role, and Ryan Gosling as Ken; George Miller’s epic Mad Max prequel, Furiosa, in production in Australia; and the feature of Broadway musical The Color Purple produced by Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey.“We’ve known Courtenay and been admirers of her work for many years,” said De Luca and Abdy in a statement to Deadline. “She’s been an integral part of Warner Bros Pictures’ success for over three decades and has had a hand in guiding some of the studio’s most popular and successful films.
Read more on deadline.com