Michael Rosenberg, the longtime president of Imagine Entertainment, has been promoted to co-Chairman, alongside Chairmen Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, TheWrap has learned.
Rosenberg has been at Imagine for more than two decades, and has long been the trusted consigliere to two of Hollywood’s leading producing and directing talents. Rosenberg is known as a behind-the-scenes force who has let his bosses own the spotlight, but the move indicates how central he has become to Imagine’s success.
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Over the last 25 years, Imagine has produced films with worldwide revenues of over $13.5 billion dollars and 10 Academy Awards.
Grazer says that “while he has been a valued partner since he came to Imagine, during the past few years Michael has become more directly involved with Ron and me in creating company strategies and planning the future of Imagine. He is an asset to the company in more ways than one and a man we respect.”
Howard said that “Michael continues to be an incredible marketing distribution strategist with strong business instincts on expanding the imagine brand. He is not only an integral part of the company’s life, he is also a genuine friend.”
He started at the production company in 1988 as vice president of marketing and distribution, and in 1998 was promoted to president.
Grazer and Howard founded the company in 1986 and have been behind some of the most successful and cherished American films of the past three decades, including the Oscar-winning “A Beautiful Mind,” “Frost/Nixon,” “8 Mile” and “J. Edgar.”
This year Howard’s “Rush” has been a commercial and critical success.
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In the television space, Imagine produces the Netflix series “Arrested Development,” and the network shows “Parenthood” and “The Great Escape.”
Prior to joining imagine Rosenberg was President of the Saul Zaentz production company in Berkeley California. The company had produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The English Patient and Amadeus, all three films winning Academy Awards for Best Picture.
Imagine Entertainment is currently filming Ron Howard’s Heart of the Sea staring Chris Hemsworth, the Mike Zimablist and Jeff Zimbalist directed biopic Pele, and Get On Up based on the true life story about the “Godfather of Soul”, James Brown, directed by Tate Taylor and staring Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Aykroyd, Viola Davis, and Octavia Spencer. The company is in post-production on The Good Lie staring Reese Witherspoon and is in pre-production on the film version of Dan Brown’s book Inferno.