Paramount taps former Disney exec to lead new animation unit
Viacom Inc.-owned Paramount Pictures has tapped veteran animation executive David Stainton to head its fledgling animation unit.
Stainton spent 17 years at Walt Disney Co., where he most recently served as president of feature animation until early 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar Animation Studios and put its co-founder, Ed Catmull, and his creative partner, John Lasseter, in charge of the Burbank studio’s storied but struggling feature animation division.
Now he will take over ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿Paramount’s animation unit, which the studio launched this year after the release of “Rango,” the critically well-received and moderately successful movie starring Johnny Depp.
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-- Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times
Photo: David Stainton also will be charged with building Paramount’s consumer product business by identifying merchandise opportunities around its animation releases, the studio said. Credit: Perry C. Riddle, Los Angeles Times / October 11, 2011.