Dawn Taubin is lead candidate for marketing job at DreamWorks Animation

[Update: DreamWorks Animation has hired Dawn Taubin to be its new marketing chief, sources close to the studio say. A release formally announcing her new job is expected this afternoon.]

Veteran movie marketing executive Dawn Taubin is a leading candidate to become the new head of marketing at DreamWorks Animation, a person familiar with the matter said.

Taubin, a former head of domestic marketing at Warner Bros. who is now a professor at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, is considered a front runner to replace Anne Globe,whose resignation was announced Monday, said the person, who was not authorized to comment on the candidates.

DreamWorks said Globe was leaving the Glendale-based studio after 17 years to start her own consulting business. Her departure followed a tepid debut for DreamWorks’ latest animated movie, “Turbo,” and “Rise of the Guardians,” the Christmas movie for which the studio was forced to take an $87-million write-down in February.

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Former MGM marketing chief Michael Vollman also has been considered for the DreamWorks job but is said to be uninterested in the position.

Representatives of DreamWorks and Taubin were not immediately available for comment.

Taubin grew up in the film industry. Her father, Guy McElwaine, was a renowned agent and studio executive. After working in film marketing at MGM, Taubin joined Warner Bros. as vice president of publicity.

In 2002, she was promoted to president of domestic marketing, where she oversaw a team of 200 and led the marketing campaigns of such hit films as the “Harry Potter” series, “The Matrix,” “300,” and “The Dark Knight.”

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“Working on ‘Harry Potter’ was truly one of the highlights of my career,’’ Taubin says in a biography posted on the Chapman University website. “It was exciting to be involved with the franchise from the beginning and to set the strategy for what would ultimately become the most successful film franchise in history.”

Taubin also handled the marketing/academy campaigns for “The Help” and “War Horse,” produced by Dreamworks Pictures and distributed by Disney, according to the university website.

Taubin left Warner Bros. in January 2008 as part of a corporate restructuring at the studio, where she clashed with former studio production president Jeff Robinov.

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