As it gears up for a busy year of tentpole releases, Warner Bros.‘ film division has hired an Amazon MGM Studios executive as its chief business officer.
Ted Lim, who most recently served as head of global strategy and business development at MGM, will join Warner Bros. in a newly created role this week, Motion Picture Group co-chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy wrote in a memo to staff on Tuesday.
Lim joined MGM in 2018 from Participant Media, where he served as senior vp strategy and business development, working on investments and acquisitions. Earlier in his career, the exec was part of the corporate strategy and business development team for Disney.
“During his time at Amazon, Ted helped architect the company’s go-forward film strategy – in particular, he oversaw the strategic expansion of the theatrical slate with upcoming titles such as The Accountant 2, Project Hail Mary, Masters of the Universe and The Thomas Crown Affair, while executing distribution strategies for recent titles including Creed III, Challengers, The Beekeeper, and American Fiction,” De Luca and Abdy wrote. “He was also a key proponent of facilitating global theatrical windows for Red One and Air and managed the company’s international theatrical distribution partnership with Warner Bros.”
At Prime Video, the Chris Evans-Dwayne Johnson holiday movie Red One became one of the most-streamed movies of the year, per Nielsen’s 2024 tally, even in a short window of time after its theatrical release on Nov. 15.
Up ahead for Warner Bros. theatrically is sci-fi thriller Companion (Jan. 31) and Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 (March 7) before tentpoles like A Minecraft Movie (April 4), Brad Pitt-starrer F1 (June 27) and the next reboot of Superman (July 11) unspools.
The full memo from De Luca and Abdy is below:
Team Motion Picture Group-
As we shared earlier this month, we remain focused on the future of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group as a singular operation that allows us to be globally focused with the films we bring to audiences while also serving our team’s needs in markets worldwide.
As we evolve towards a fully integrated worldwide department, we are excited to introduce you all to our new team member, Ted Lim, who joins the Motion Picture Group as Chief Business Officer. In this newly created role, Ted’s contributions will allow us to continue our growth and provide greater support to many of the vital divisions within our organization.
As Chief Business Officer, he will report to us and work closely with leadership to define and implement the strategic and operational plans for the Motion Picture Group. He will also identify anddrive new business development and growth opportunities, ensuring alignment with WBD’s long-term corporate objectives.Ted will additionally lead initiatives to optimize internal processes across production, marketing, and distribution while providing guidance on the adoption of new technologies and innovative practices in partnership with the respective functional leads of finance, P&C, GBT, driving alignment with OneWBD.
Working with our colleagues in finance, streaming, franchise, content sales/home entertainment, licensing, and consumer products, Ted will collaborate with each division to ensure each Warner Bros. Pictures release reachesthewidest possible audience beyond its theatrical window. With this new structure, Ricky Tydus who serves as SVP of Creative Strategy & Film Operations and his team will report to Ted.
Ted comes to WBD from Amazon MGM Studios, where he most recently served as Head of Global Strategy and Business Development, overseeing corporate strategy, content strategy for film (theatrical and streaming) and international originals, creative planning, franchise management, and strategic partnerships. During his time at Amazon, Ted helped architect the company’s go-forward film strategy – in particular, he oversaw the strategic expansion of the theatrical slate with upcoming titles such as The Accountant 2, Project Hail Mary, Masters of the Universe, and The Thomas Crown Affair, while executing distribution strategies for recent titles including Creed III, Challengers, The Beekeeper, and American Fiction. He was also a key proponent of facilitating global theatrical windows for Red One and Air and managed the company’s international theatrical distribution partnership with Warner Bros.
Previously, Ted was Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning and Corporate Development for MGM Studios, where he was a key member of the deal team that led the company’s landmark sale to Amazon. He also supported us both in our roles as MGM’s Motion Picture Group Chairman and President, respectively, on the greenlighting, production, and release of films including No Time to Die (the latest installment of the 007 franchise), House of Gucci, Dog, Licorice Pizza, and The Addams Family 2, as well as the formation of United Artists Releasing (the company’s US theatrical distribution joint venture with Annapurna) and the business plan for the relaunch of Orion Pictures. Following the close of the MGM acquisition, Ted helped lead integration efforts to create a unified film & television business model across Prime Video, Amazon Studios, and MGM before taking on his broader role at the combined studio.
Prior to MGM, Ted served as Senior VP of Strategy and Business Development for Participant and as an executive in the Corporate Strategy and Business Development team for The Walt Disney Company. He started his career in management consulting at Bain & Company and has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from Harvard University.
We look forward to introducing him to the team when he joins us officially this week.
Mike & Pam
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