Two Senior Executives Leave Paramount in New Shake-Up

After weeks of rumor and speculation, Paramount Pictures late Thursday announced a further shake-up at its troubled motion picture division with the immediate departure of two senior executives.

David Kirkpatrick, president of the Motion Pictures Group, and Gary Lucchesi, president of the Motion Picture Production Division, were “leaving their positions,” effective immediately, Paramount said.

For now, Paramount Pictures Chairman Brandon Tartikoff will assume both jobs, which sources said will be combined.

Kirkpatrick and Lucchesi’s departure was an open secret in Hollywood, with their out-of-favor status rumored almost daily in the trade press.

Tartikoff, the former programming chief at NBC, has been moving to put in his own team since being named head of the studio in July.

Scott Rudin, producer of the upcoming Paramount release “The Addams Family,” is said to be in line as the new head of production at the studio.

A spokesman said the studio would not comment on speculation.

Kirkpatrick had only been in his job 13 months, having come from Disney--which sued him and Paramount after he left the studio.

The lawsuit was subsequently settled. Lucchesi is one of the rumored candidates for the job as production head at Tri-Star Pictures.

Tartikoff has been openly critical in recent weeks of the kinds of pictures that Paramount’s previous management regime had produced.

Tartikoff said the pictures were targeted to an older audience and that he wanted to “youthify” the studio.