Marc Evans is exiting as president of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group, likely at the end of the year, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.
He is expected to become a producer on the lot, the individual added. Deadline first reported his exit plans.
Evans, a 14-year veteran of the studio, is a well-respected creative executive who previously served as Paramount’s president of production, a role he took on in 2010.
Under his leadership, Paramount released prestige films including “Fences,” “Arrival,” “Silence,” “The Big Short” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” But more recently, he also led the group through high-profile disappoints like “Zoolander 2,” “Monster Trucks,” “Baywatch” and “Ghost in the Shell.”
Evans joined Paramount in 2003 as vice president of production before being promoted to senior VP in 2006 and executive VP in 2008. He served as president of the Motion Picture Group during Brad Grey’s exit as CEO of Paramount Pictures in February, after 12 years in that role. Grey died of cancer in May.
Evans has worked with top filmmakers and supervised production on some of the studio’s most critically and commercially successful films, including the “Mission: Impossible,” “Star Trek,” “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” franchises, as well as “World War Z,” “Interstellar” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
He was also involved in “Selma,” “Super 8,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Shutter Island,” “Noah,” “Up in the Air,” “Flight” and the Coen brothers’ Western “True Grit.”
Prior to joining Paramount, he served as executive vice president of Laura Ziskin Productions and vice president of Industry Entertainment. Before moving to Los Angeles, he was program director of the Chicago International Film Festival for five years.