Brian Goldner

Hasbro’s CEO on the future of Transformers, Disney’s Princess bonanza and why buying a studio is ‘very compelling’ By Tatiana Siegel

- Tatiana Siegel

In 2002, Brian Goldner, a then-rising executive at Hasbro, was pitching studios the robot-morphing Transformers toys as the next Spider-Man, which had just ushered in the new tentpole movie era. One day, while having lunch in L.A., he ran into Spider-Man producer Avi Arad. “He told me that I shouldn’t embarrass myself because it was going to be impossible to execute,” recalls Goldner, who has been CEO since 2008. He kept pushing, though, and two years later, DreamWorks and Paramount bought film rights to the megafranchise, whose four films have grossed $3.8 billion worldwide. A fifth chapter, and the final one directed by Michael Bay, opens June 21.

Goldner takes a hands-on approach when it comes to the company’s toy-to-film properties, which also have included two G.I. Joe movies ($678 million worldwide) and two Jason Blum-produced micro-budget Ouija films ($186 million). He frequented the Transformers writers room headed up by Akiva Goldsman in 2015 and retained script approval. The company’s first internally hatched film, the animated My Little Pony, will be released by Lionsgate on Oct. 6.

Just as important to Hasbro, whose revenues were $5 billion in 2016, is the screen-to-toy business. In 2014, it signed a lucrative licensing deal with Disney for its Princess and Frozen brands, and it has licensing rights to the Star Wars and Marvel brands through 2020. Goldner, 54, who oversees a staff of 5,400, sat down with THR in his Pawtucket, Rhode Island, office — just north of the posh seaside town of Barrington, where he lives with his wife while his daughter attends Dartmouth, his alma mater.