Paul Hanneman and Tomas Jegeus have been promoted to co-presidents of worldwide marketing and distribution at 20th Century Fox Film as it emerged that chief marketing officer for the domestic division Oren Aviv will leave the company.

The streamlining will see both the international and North American marketing and distribution teams report to the pair, who since 2005 have served as co-presidents of 20th Century Fox International.

In their time Hanneman (pictured at left) and Jegeus have presided over a blockbuster portfolio that includes Avatar and the Ice Age franchise as well a host of other global hits.

Fox International is on course to cross $2bn for the fifth calendar year in a row and has ranked as the top studio internationally in three of the past four years.

“Our industry is more global than ever before,” said 20th Century Fox Film chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos, to whom Jegeus and Hanneman will report.

“Paul and Tomas have proven success in the global arena, having run the industry’s most successful international operations, and coupled with our excellent domestic team, they will reshape our worldwide marketing and distribution strategies for the future.”

“We want to thank Oren for his contributions to the studio over the past three years,” said Gianopulos.

“He is a class act, who contributed greatly to the studio’s success while here, including his work on such films as Prometheus and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. We look forward to working with him in different capacities down the road.”

“We are so thrilled to have the opportunity to work more closely with the terrific domestic marketing team,” said Hanneman and Jegeus.

“Tony Sella [chief creative officer] is one of the most talented creative marketers in our industry and we are fortunate to have his exceptional mind onboard to help realise our vision for the future.

“Chris Aronson [president of domestic distribution] has done such a stellar job overseeing domestic distribution, and with many of our exhibition partners expanding globally, he will continue be an enormous asset going forward.”

Jegeus began his career at Fox in 1990 as marketing director for the UK office and in 1998 moved to Hong Kong to become vp the Fox’s Asia/Pacific marketing division. From 2002 to 2004 he served as evp of marketing at UIP and returned to Fox in 2004 as evp of 20th Century Fox International in Los Angeles.

Hanneman joined Fox International in 1990 and a year later became managing director of Korean operations.  In 1993 he moved to Japan as managing director and from 1995 to 2002 served as svp Asia/Pacific. He held the position of evp of sales and strategic planning for Fox International from 2002 to autumn 2005.

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