Senior VP of studio distribution and country manager in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Tony Chambers, has been named executive vice president of global theatrical distribution at the Walt Disney Company, according to Variety.
What’s Happening:
- The Walt Disney Company has named Tony Chambers the executive vice president of global theatrical distribution, where he will be responsible for leading and integrating domestic and international distribution across theatrical and home entertainment for all films produced and released by Disney. These films include anything from Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, Blue Sky Studios and Searchlight Pictures.
- A recent restructuring has put more of an emphasis on direct-to-consumer approaches and streaming, where budget and distribution decisions were moved to theMedia and Entertainment Distribution group led by Kareem Daniel. Chambers will report to the President of Platform Distribution, Justin Connolly, who reports to Daniel.
- Chambers, who has been with Disney since 1995, replaces Cathleen Taff, who occupied the position since 2018. Taff will remain at Disney as president of production services, franchise management and multicultural engagement.
- Chambers most recent position was senior VP of studio distribution and country manager in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where he was responsible for leading distribution efforts across theatrical and home entertainment. Over the course of his tenure with Disney, he was head of studio sales and distribution for Europe, Middle East and Africa, as well as general manager of emerging markets, where he led operations in the Middle East, Israel, Africa, Turkey Greece and Cyprus.
- Chambers will also be part of the effort on the distribution side that figures out the best way to release new content produced by the studios, releasing it on the big screen or putting it on Disney+ or Hulu.