Richard Brener & Carolyn Blackwood To Run New Line Amid WB Shuffle

EXCLUSIVE: New Line Cinema veterans Richard Brener and Carolyn Blackwood will take over running New Line Cinema, sources say, after Toby Emmerich, who steered production at New Line from his position as president and COO, was elevated to Chief Content Officer at Warner Bros Pictures Group today. That move happened as the studio said film boss Greg Silverman would exit by year’s end.

Emmerich will oversee the films generated by both divisions, and Brener and Blackwood will report to him.

Brener was Emmerich’s right-hand man at NL as president of production and dates from Mike De Luca’s time at the studio — he started at New Line as a temp in 1995. Blackwood, a favorite of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh during the orchestration of The Hobbit trilogy, was also atop the power structure as New Line’s president of operations and content strategy. No word yet on any new titles.

Emmerich takes over at Warner Bros. Pictures Group on January 1.

Erik Pedersen contributed to this report.