Adrian Smith is retiring as chief of domestic distribution at Sony Pictures, closing a 35-year run at the studio.
He will be succeeded by Adam Bergerman, EVP and General Sales Manager at Sony.
“It’s been an agonizing decision, but I’ve been so privileged to grow here alongside so many remarkable colleagues, and I’m proud of what we were able to achieve with our partners in exhibition through some of the most challenged times this industry has ever seen,” Smith said in a memo to Sony employees on Thursday.
Smith joined Sony in 1989 as western district manager for TriStar Pictures, having previously worked at 20th Century Fox on the studio side and at Mann Theatres and United Artists on the exhibitor side.
In 2000, he was named SVP and western division manager for Sony Pictures Releasing, and in 2011, he was appointed EVP and general sales manager, overseeing domestic sales for all Sony Pictures films. He was then promoted to president of domestic distribution in 2013.
Since his start at Sony Pictures, Smith has been involved in over 1,025 theatrical releases across all labels. Of those, 202 were #1 at the domestic box office, with 47 of them coming during his tenure as distribution president. Among those 47 films are “Bad Boys for Life,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” the “Venom” trilogy, and most successful of all, Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man” trilogy, which combined to gross more than $1.5 billion at the domestic box office. More than half of that came from “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which is Sony’s highest grossing film ever with $814 million domestic and $1.92 billion worldwide.
“It has been an honor to not just have considered Adrian a colleague all these years, but also a friend and it will be hard to imagine Sony without him. Thankfully, he has led an incredible team and for this reason I am thrilled that Adam Bergerman has been promoted to President of Distribution,” wrote Sony’s motion picture group president Josh Greenstein.
Bergerman joined Sony in 1996 as a booker, a sales manager and district manager for the Eastern Division in the New York office. He moved to the Culver City lot in 2012 as SVP for the Western Division, before being promoted to EVP and General Sales Manager in 2017 following the retirement of global distribution chief Rory Bruer.
Bergerman will oversee domestic distribution on a Sony slate that includes “Karate Kid: Legends” and “28 Years Later” in 2025 and a fourth Marvel Studios “Spider-Man” film starring Tom Holland in 2026.
The leadership shuffle at Sony is one of several that have taken place to start the year. Disney’s global distribution chief Tony Chambers will take a new post as the company’s president of EMEA following the release of “Captain America: Brave New World” next month, with his successor still to be named. Warner Bros. has also upped domestic president Jeff Goldstein to be head of global distribution with international president Andrew Cripps departing.
