STX president of marketing Jack Pan is stepping down from his position, TheWrap has learned.
“Jack informed us that he will be leaving the company to devote more time helping care for his family,” an STX spokesman said in a statement.
“He has been a valued colleague and an outstanding member of our launch team. We are incredibly grateful to him for his contributions to our inaugural slate, especially ‘The Gift,’ ‘The Boy’ and ‘Bad Moms.’ We have a deep bench of experienced and skilled studio marketing executives working within STX, and Eddie Egan, who ran marketing for both Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment and has been working with us as a senior marketing consultant, will immediately step in as interim head of the department. Our heartfelt wishes are extended to Jack and his entire family.”
Pan joined STX in September 2014, and both Pan and Egan will work together in the coming days to ensure a smooth transition. Egan was previously the head of marketing for Illumination Entertainment.
News of Pan’s departure comes just a few weeks after former STX Entertainment President of Production Cathy Schulman left the company, as TheWrap previously reported.
Schulman stepped down from her role as production president in late July and was replaced by Sam Brown, a former SVP from New Line, but was said to be taking an unnamed executive role at STX.
At the time, an STX spokesperson said Schulman would be handling the launch of “a significant new initiative,” the details of which were not disclosed. But, in fact, Schulman is moving on as a film producer, one knowledgeable insider told TheWrap, while continuing in her leadership role of the nonprofit Women in Film.
Schulman was instrumental in STX’s biggest box office hit, the Mila Kunis romp “Bad Moms,” which crossed $100 million at the domestic box office on Saturday. Calls to her office were not immediately returned.
Infighting over the marketing campaign for “Free State of Jones” were among the issues that have created tension in the executive ranks at the studio. The film tanked, earning just $20 million at the worldwide box office despite a $50 million production budget.
STX CEO Bob Simonds is said by insiders to be focused on pivoting the studio away from prestige, character-driven films toward middlebrow comedies under Brown.
In his defense, STX is at work on prestige films like Aaron Sorkin‘s directorial debut “Molly’s Game,” which shoots in November. The company also landed a major Cannes acquisition in Martin Scorsese‘s “The Irishman.”
Schulman’s departure is the third high-profile exit at the fledgling studio in the past year, all of them women until Pan. Terry Curtin, the head of publicity, left for DreamWorks Animation, and Kathy Savitt, the former Yahoo marketer who ran digital at STX, lasted a matter of weeks.
Senior Vice President of Distribution Jim Amos also departed the company just days ahead of Schulman’s exit. Amos was a 30-year veteran of Sony Pictures prior to joining the upstart.
In its short life, STX’s performance has been inconsistent. The company’s professed strategy of mid-budget, talent-driven films has seen success with the 2015 thriller “The Gift” — which earned $59 million against a production budget of $5 million — and the horror film “The Boy,” which made $64.2 million earlier this year on a $10 million budget.
Before its latest hit, however, STX suffered disappointments including “Hardcore Henry” and “The Free State of Jones” starring Matthew McConaughey, which delivered only $20 million in box office on a $50 million budget, plus marketing costs.
STX just closed a strategic investment from Chinese tech and media conglomerate Tencent, to launch a digital content operation and VR unit — as well as expand its international reach.