Paramount Topper Goldwyn Steps Down

John Goldwyn has chosen to step down as vice chairman of the Motion Picture Group and president of Paramount Pictures. The move will allow him to exercise his option for a long term production deal with the studio and he will remain in his current position until the company names a successor.

In a release, Goldwin comments, “Working with Jon Dolgen and Sherry Lansing has been tremendously rewarding and I am proud of the films my team and I have made together. However, Sherry and I always had an understanding that by the end of this year I would have the ability to transition into my production agreement."

Goldwyn’s tenure as the studio’s senior executive has seen the production of such critical successes and box office smashes as The Rugrats Movie, Rugrats in Paris, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Titanic, the Mission: Impossible franchise, The Hours, School of Rock, Wayne’s World and more. Under his supervision, the studio has also released the latest Rugrats feature, Rugrats Go Wild, and The Wild Thornberrys Movie under its partnership with Nickelodeon pictures and Klasky Csupo.

Among the slate of upcoming films Goldwin will leave behind at Paramount is the Spongebob Squarepants feature, scheduled for release in December of 2004.