Marc Shmuger (born June 27, 1958) is an American entertainment executive and film producer. From 1998 to 2009 he was working for Universal Pictures, where he became chairman in 2006. From February 2016 to December 2017 he was the CEO of EuropaCorp.
Marc Shmuger studied English and film studies from 1976 to 1980 at Wesleyan University and holds a Bachelor of Arts. [1]
He started his career in the entertainment industry in the 1980s, where he worked e.g. as a creative consultant and script supervisor. Together with Mark Malone he wrote the script for the horror thriller Dead of Winter , which was filmed by Arthur Penn in 1987.
From May 1991 until May 1998 Shmuger worked at the marketing department of Sony Pictures Entertainment, where he was involved in the marketing of Luc Besson's movies Léon: The Professional and The Fifth Element . At Sony, Shmuger became Executive Vice President of Marketing. Afterwards he joined Universal Pictures as President of Marketing, and was later promoted Vice Chairman. In March 2006, Shmuger was promoted to Chairman of Universal Pictures with David Linde becoming Co-Chairman. [2] At this position, he was among other things in charge of promoting movies on new video websites like Youtube. [3] In October 2009, Shmuger and Linde were ousted from Universal Pictures . [4]
In 2011, Shmuger founded his own production company, Global Produce, [5] that e.g. produced Alex Gibney's documentary films We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks [6] and Zero Days . [7] He was also rumored to be working on a new Scarface movie, [8] Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo, an adaptation of Nicholas de Monchaux's book, [9] and a remake of Timecop . [10]
In February 2016, Shmuger became CEO of Luc Besson's EuropaCorp. [11] [12] He held that position until the end of 2017 [13] and stepped down on 31 December 2017 as the company was facing a harsh financial slop. As CEO of Europacorp, he led many restructuring actions such as raising funds, offloading noncore assets, restructuring the company's debt and reducing operational costs. He kept working as a consultant for EuropaCorp on Besson's movie Anna . [14]
He is married to Louise Hamagami and has two sons. [15]
Producer
Executive Producer
Luc Paul Maurice Besson is a French filmmaker. He directed or produced the films Subway (1985), The Big Blue (1988), and La Femme Nikita (1990). Associated with the Cinéma du look film movement, he has been nominated for a César Award for Best Director and Best Picture for his films Léon: The Professional (1994) and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). He won Best Director and Best French Director for his sci-fi action film The Fifth Element (1997). He wrote and directed the 2014 sci-fi action film Lucy and the 2017 space opera film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
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EuropaCorp S.A. is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full-service independent studios that both produce and distribute feature films. It specializes in production, distribution, home entertainment, VOD, sales, partnerships and licenses, recording, publishing and exhibition. EuropaCorp's integrated financial model generates revenues from a wide range of sources, with films from many genres and a strong presence in the international markets.
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Lava Bear Films is a production and film financing company producing three to five projects annually that are specifically designed for the global marketplace. The company was founded in 2011 by David Linde who was CEO until October, 2015 when Participant Media announced that Linde joined the company as its CEO. Lava Bear’s development slate of over fifteen titles and upcoming productions will continue to be overseen by Tory Metzger, President and Partner of Lava Bear, with Linde’s support during his transition.
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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a 2017 space opera film written and directed by Luc Besson, and produced by his wife, Virginie Besson-Silla. It is based on the French science fiction comics series Valérian and Laureline, written by Pierre Christin, illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières, and published by Dargaud. It stars Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne as Valerian and Laureline, respectively, with Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu and Rutger Hauer in supporting roles. Besson independently financed and personally funded the film. With a production budget of around $223 million, it is both the most expensive European and the most expensive independent film ever made.
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