Paramount Taps Revolution Exec

Veteran Hollywood deal maker Rob Moore was named Thursday as Paramount Pictures’ top business executive as the revamping of the venerable Hollywood studio continues.

In taking the job as president of worldwide marketing, distribution and operations, Moore relinquishes his partnership in Revolution Studios, the 5-year-old movie company founded by Joe Roth, former film chief at Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox.

Moore becomes the second of Revolution’s four original partners to leave this year. The first was Todd Garner, who now has a producing deal with the company.

Asked why he was leaving Revolution, Moore said, “Paramount is offering me the opportunity to take advantage of all the things I’ve learned over the last 18 years.”

Revolution has an uneven record at the box office, with such hits as “XXX” and “Anger Management,” but also such duds as “Gigli” and the sequel “XXX: State of the Union.”

Revolution’s original six-year deal with equity investors Sony Pictures, Fox Entertainment and Starz Encore expires at the end of next year. Roth has been in talks with Sony to extend its agreement to market, distribute and help finance his films.

“Revolution does have a finite future,” Roth said. “We have two more years ahead of us to make and release 10 or 12 more pictures, and during that time hopefully we’ll find a way to extend the life of the company.”

Moore, a former senior Disney executive, will have wide latitude at Viacom Inc.-owned Paramount when he starts Aug. 1.

Moore will report to Paramount Chairman Brad Grey, who has been remaking the languishing studio since taking over in March.

Moore’s duties will include overseeing domestic and international marketing and distribution, administration, legal and business affairs and Paramount’s Melrose Avenue back lot. The home entertainment and specialty film divisions will report to Grey.

Moore assumes some of the duties that fell to outgoing Vice Chairman Rob Friedman, as well as others handled by former Viacom Entertainment Group Chairman Jonathan Dolgen.

Although Moore has spent years crafting deals and working on financial issues, he has not had primary responsibility for marketing and distributing films domestically.

Still, Moore said his previous jobs provided him with ample exposure to those areas, noting that he worked with Revolution partner Tom Sherak in helping pick film release dates and developing marketing strategies.

“My job here for the last five years was to maximize the value of our assets,” he said.

Moore’s main job at Revolution was running the day-to-day operations, engineering business deals and managing its strategic partnerships.

Before helping launch Revolution, Moore had been a top business executive at Disney for 13 years, the last six of which he spent as Roth’s executive vice president of operations and finance.

Moore played a key role in overseeing Disney’s Miramax Film Corp. and dealing with Pixar Animation Studios.

Moore’s duties at Revolution are expected to be assumed by business affairs executive Dan Ferleger.

Roth, who himself recently made a deal with Paramount involving TV, called the hiring of his former partner a good move.

“He has all the skill sets you’d want for someone in that job,” Roth said.