New President for Marvel Animation

NEW YORK, April 22: Marvel
Entertainment has upped Eric Rollman to the role of president of Marvel
Animation, overseeing the company’s animation slate and partnerships with key
broadcasters and home-entertainment studios.

Rollman, who most recently
served as the executive VP of home entertainment and TV production for Marvel
Studios, will report to Simon Phillips, the president of Marvel Entertainment
International. Rollman joined the company in 2004 to support Marvel’s agreement
with Lionsgate to develop, produce and distribute made-for-DVD animated
features based on popular Marvel characters. On the television front, Rollman
is currently overseeing the Iron Man: Armored Adventures and Wolverine and the X-Men animated series, and forged the deal with
Nickelodeon to have both shows broadcast on Nicktoons, debuting in early 2009.
Prior to joining Marvel, Rollman spent more than 15 years as a key executive at
Saban Entertainment/Fox Family Worldwide.

“Eric’s contributions to
Marvel have been invaluable,” said Philips. “Animation is a major priority for
the company and affords us a huge opportunity both to expand the presence of
some of our top superhero franchises and to present a powerful platform to introduce
additional characters from our renowned library in a compelling fashion.” He
continued: “Eric has created a strong foundation for success in this genre and
has built solid partnerships that have yielded much success for our projects in
both the home entertainment and broadcast arenas. His depth of experience will
continue to be relied upon heavily as we look to further expand our animation
slate and build additional broadcast and home-entertainment partnerships.”

Rollman added, “We have
seen tremendous success in our slate of animated features and television series
with our strategic partners playing a key role across the board. I look forward
to continuing to manage those relationships while nurturing new opportunities
for our continuing growth.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski