[ad_1]
Danlin
Presley Ann/Getty Images
Dan Lin, the producer behind the Lego movies and the new live-action adaptation of Avatar the last airbender has been chosen as Netflix’s new film director, according to sources.
Lin takes over the position vacated by Scott Stuber, who announced in January that he would step down in March.
Lin’s name was in the mix from the early days of the talent search, along with former Disney executive Sean Bailey and Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey, among a handful of others. Bailey seemed like the pick until she wasn’t, and the Feb. 26 shakeup at Disney resulted in her departure after 15 runs at the Burbank-based studio.
Making a deal with Lin was no walk in the park. Lin remained strongly involved with Rideback, his prolific production company, and Rideback Rise, his equally strong nonprofit initiative. The two entities proved to be obstacles on previous occasions when he was competing for top senior management positions. In the summer of 2022, for example, he was in talks to oversee DC film and television at Warner Bros., but those talks ultimately fell apart due to questions about Rideback.
Lin already has ties to Netflix. She produced a 2017 horror film. Death Note and the 2019 Oscar-nominated drama The two popes for the transmitter. More importantly, it tackled the difficult and high-profile series adaptation of The last Airbender, which barely became a home run in its early days, debuting at number one in 92 countries. He did air master for Bela Bajaria, who headed the television unit and took over oversight of the film division in January 2023, when Netflix named her CCO.
Lin began his career as a junior executive at Warner Bros. in the 1920s, where his work included The dead people and 10,000 BC. before setting out on his own and founding his own production company. As a producer, his films have grossed more than $5 billion worldwide, and his credits include the He and sherlock holmes movies, as well as Lego films.
Lin enters Netflix in a very different landscape than his predecessor. Stuber, who joined the company in 2017, used his relationships with talent to make the streamer acceptable to the Hollywood community. Once he accomplished that, he pushed Netflix to expand into blockbuster movie territory, courting filmmakers like Zack Snyder, the Russo Brothers, Michael Bay and Rawson Marshall Thurber, and starting franchises like Extraction, The gray manand Knives out.
While the company has not publicly stated its film goals, those familiar with current thinking say Netflix is reducing the budgets and number of its original films.