John Cohen has been promoted from director of development to vp of production at Twentieth Century Fox Animation and continues to report to Chris Meledandri, president of the Fox Animation unit.
John is an extraordinary executive and his contribution to ICE AGE, ROBOTS and ICE AGE 2 have been invaluable to me, said Meledandri. He has also been instrumental in helping to build a future development slate for Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky. In addition to overseeing existing projects and bringing in new projects, we are also developing some of Johns original ideas.
Cohen, who joined the division in 2000, will continue working on the Fox/Blue Sky project HORTON HEARS A WHO, based on the beloved Dr. Seuss classic book. He was instrumental in hiring writers Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio to adapt. HORTON HEARS A WHO marks the very first time a Dr. Seuss book will be adapted entirely in CGI for the bigscreen.
Cohens pet project is to revitalize and reinvent the multi-generational property ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS with a movie version featuring the CGI chipmunks in a live-action world. Cohen brought on writer Jon Vitti to pen the adaptation, which is being co-developed by Fox Animation and Fox 2000.
In another highly competitive pursuit of branded property, Cohen, in conjunction with 20th Century Fox Home Ent., landed the rights to distribute a direct-to-video movie based on the enormously popular BRATZ toy line. He is also developing a live-action BRATZ movie with writer Dana Fox.
Cohen conceived the idea of www.NapoleonVsFender.com, a website which cross-promoted the theatrical release of ROBOTS and the video release of Fox Searchlights NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. The site features Napoleon in a dance-off with Fender, Robin Williams character in ROBOTS and the site has become a viral phenomenon.
In 2001, Cohen produced the well-reviewed production of THE PAGES OF MY DIARY ID RATHER NOT READ, by Eydie Faye at the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles.
Twentieth Century Fox Animation is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a News Corp. Co.
