Former DreamWorks Animation co-president to serve as president of Paramount Animation, reporting to Paramount Motion Picture Group president Marc Evans.
Former DreamWorks Animation co-president Mireille Soria has been appointed to head Paramount Animation, according to multiple trade outlet reports. Soria will serve as president of Paramount Animation and report to Paramount Motion Picture Group president Marc Evans.
The move comes a little more than seven months after the December 2016 departure of Soria from her post as co-president of DreamWorks Animation, a position she held alongside current DWA president Bonnie Arnold. (Soria and Arnold were named co-presidents of feature animation at DWA in January 2015, following the departure of Bill Damaschke as chief creative officer. In August 2016, in the wake of Comcast’s $3.8 billion DWA purchase, they were both named co-presidents of the studio.)
Mireille Soria
A longtime producer at DreamWorks Animation, Soria produced Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Sinbad: Legends of the Seven Seas, and 2005’s Madagascar and its various sequels and spinoffs prior to stepping into her executive role at the studio. As an exec, she was involved in overseeing the studio’s 2016 animated musical, Trolls, and 2017 releases The Boss Baby and Captain Underpants.
Paramount’s feature animation division is relatively new, launching in 2011 with Rango, starring Johnny Depp. Since then, the studio has produced the box office smash The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, and the very expensive Monster Trucks, directed by Chris Wedge, which resulted in a $115 million write-down in 2016.
Upcoming projects at Viacom-owned Paramount Animation include Sherlock Gnomes and Amusement Park, both of which are set for release in 2018. Soria will reportedly also work closely with Viacom executives -- including Paramount studio chief Jim Gianopulos -- to develop new animated features.
As the former head of 20th Century Fox Film, which distributed DreamWorks Animation movies after DWA’s previous deal with Paramount ended in 2012, Gianopulos has worked with Soria in the past. “I’ve known and have worked with Mireille for many years and know that with her running our animation group, Paramount continues to build a great team for the future,” he said in a statement.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
