Sony Names Columbia TriStar Domestic Marketing President

Sony Pictures has named Valerie Van Galder as president of domestic marketing for its Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group.

She replaces Geoffrey Ammer, who was ousted this month amid the studio’s prolonged box-office slump with such costly flops as “The Legend of Zorro,” “Zathura,” “Bewitched” and “Stealth.”

Van Galder, who since last year has been serving as president of Sony’s TriStar Pictures movie label, will not be responsible for international marketing as Ammer was.

That responsibility will fall to a yet-to-be named marketing executive who, like Van Galder, will report to Jeff Blake, chairman of marketing and distribution.

-- Claudia Eller