Eric Rollman Marvel Animation Head
Marvel To Increase Presence in Animation, Home Entertainment
In a bid to increase its presence in animation and home entertainment markets, Marvel Entertainment has named Eric Rollman its new Animation president.
In a bid to increase its market share in animation and home entertainment markets, comic book conglomerate Marvel Entertainment Inc. has named Eric Rollman to the new position of President of Marvel Animation.
In his new job, Rollman will oversee Marvel's upcoming animation schedule, as well as develop and maintain relationships with key broadcasters and home entertainment studios.
"Eric's contributions to Marvel have been invaluable. Animation is a major priority for the company and affords us a huge opportunity both to expand the presence of some of our top Super Hero franchises and to present a powerful platform to introduce additional characters from our renowned library in a compelling fashion," said Simon Philips, President of Marvel Entertainment, in the press release.
"Eric has created a strong foundation for success in this genre and has build solid partnerships that have yielded much success for our projects in both the home entertainment and broadcast arenas. His depth of experience will continue to be relied upon heavily as we look to further expand our animation slate and build additional broadcast and home entertainment partnerships."
"We have seen tremendous success in our slate of animated features and television series with our strategic partners playing a key role across the board," responded Rollman in the press release. "I look forward to continuing to manage those relationships while nurturing new opportunities for our continuing growth."
Former Fox Family Executive Rollman Developed Animated DVD Titles
Before taking this job, Eric Rollman was the Executive Vice President, Home Entertainment & TV Production for Marvel Studios, where he helped developand produce several direct-to-DVD animated features, including the highly successful The Avengers and The Invincible Iron Man DVD titles.
Rollman joined Marvel in 2004 shortly after the company inked a historic deal with Lionsgate Entertainment to create direct-to-DVD titles for Marvel's library of more than 4,700 comic book characters, which included the Iron Man, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Incredible Hulk franchises.
Prior to joining Marvel, Rollman had spent 15 years as an executive at Saban Entertainment/Fox Family Worldwide, eventually becoming President of Fox Family Productions. During that time, he oversaw the development of the Power Rangers and Digimon animated television series, as well as developing several Marvel properties into animated TV shows, such as X-Men, Ultimate Spider-Man, Silver Surfer and The Avengers.
He lost his job in 2001, when ABC/Disney purchased Fox Family. Between 2001 and 2004, he founded Rollman Entertainment, a consultation and development firm for live-action and animated television, film and media projects.
Fun Fact: Marvel Entertainment's first successful comic book character was the Tarzan knock-off Ka-Zar. The characters was an English lord who lived with his friend, a sabre-tooth tiger named Zabu, in the Savage Land, a "lost world" hidden under Antarctica. Ka-Zar's first appearance in Marvel Comics was in Marvel Comics #1, released in October of 1939.
