NBCUniversal shakeup: Film boss Donna Langley will now also lead TV

NBCUniversal movie chief Donna Langley is being elevated to oversee all of film and television — taking over one of the most important and visible parts of the Comcast Corp.-owned media company.

Langley’s promotion on Thursday to chairman of the NBCUniversal Studio Group and Chief Content Officer is part of broader shakeup that has been in the works since Comcast President Mike Cavanagh began leading the media company following the ouster of its former CEO Jeff Shell in April.

Television chief Susan Rovner is stepping down as part of the overhaul. Rovner was hired in 2020 for the big TV programming role following a long stint at Warner Bros. Pearlena Igbokwe will continue to lead the company’s television studios.

Three other top NBCUniversal executives — Mark Lazarus, Cesar Conde and Mark Woodbury — will see their portfolios expand.

“This new structure will facilitate a streamlined decision-making process and foster even more collaboration across our company,” Cavanagh wrote in a memo to the announcing the moves. “In this role, Donna will oversee a unified content strategy across the broad NBCUniversal portfolio, bringing together our film and television studios.”

Langley will be responsible for NBCUniversal’s creative teams, including Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation) and Universal Studio Group (Universal Television, Universal Content Productions, Universal Television Alternative Studios, Universal International Studios).

Under Langley, Universal Pictures has pursued a strategy of releasing a diverse slate of movies in theaters, with prestige dramas and Jason Blum-produced horror movies mixed in with big-budget action franchises.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” from animation studio Illumination Entertainment, grossed more than $1 billion in global ticket sales. “Fast X” did so-so business compared with its predecessors, and DreamWorks Animation’s “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” flopped. The studio is set to release Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” a three-hour historical drama, on July 21, putting it right up against Warner Bros.’ “Barbie.”

During the pandemic, Universal pivoted its release strategy to distribute films in theaters first but then quickly make them available for in-home rental for at least $20. Universal cut home video revenue-sharing deals with theater owners, who had long resisted attempts by studios to shorten the exclusive theatrical window. Studio executives have said the tactic has made more of their films profitable.