Veteran PR executive Eric Kops has been officially named head of global communications and earned media for Lionsgate’s motion picture group.
The announcement was made Thursday by Marisa Liston, Lionsgate’s president of global marketing, to whom Kops will report.
Kops will oversee global feature film publicity on all wide theatrical releases, multi-platform releases and catalog, through the full cycle of their campaigns; he also will oversee strategic communications for the motion picture group as a whole. Kops has been unofficially serving in the role since last year, when Liston was promoted from the job to lead the global marketing department.
“Eric could not be more respected for his creativity, intelligence, experience, and leadership skills, which made him the perfect choice to head up the department,” stated Liston, announcing the official move. “His impeccable relationships with talent and representatives, alongside his thorough understanding of every aspect of the job from strategy to media training, have made him an invaluable addition to our overall marketing team.”
Kops joined Lionsgate in 2020, contributing to the team behind “Spiral: From the Book of Saw” and “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard,” as well as “American Underdog.” He is currently leading the publicity campaigns for “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” starring Academy Award-winner Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal.
Upcoming projects include “John Wick: Chapter 4”; “White Bird: A Wonder Story,” the follow up to the 2017 hit; “Borderlands,” starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jack Black; “About My Father,” with Sebastian Maniscalco and Robert De Niro; “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” the long-awaited adaptation of the Judy Blume classic, from writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig and producer James L. Brooks; and the untitled Adele Lim comedy project.
The industry veteran previously served as senior vice president of publicity at Summit Entertainment, a Lionsgate company, overseeing campaigns for films including “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “The Hurt Locker” (which won six Oscars including Best Picture) and all five “Twilight” films.
Kops began his career in entertainment marketing and publicity in 1991. He spent six years at MGM/UA, where he rose through the ranks to lead the department as EVP of worldwide publicity & promotions, overseeing campaigns for films including “The Thomas Crown Affair,” “Igby Goes Down,” “Hotel Rwanda” and the “James Bond” films starring Pierce Brosnan. He also orchestrated the PR launch of the “Legally Blonde” and “Barbershop” franchises.
He then moved to Paramount Pictures, where he served as SVP of publicity with titles including Cameron Crowe’s “Elizabethtown,” JJ Abrams and Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible III” and Bill Condon’s “Dreamgirls,” where he oversaw the Oscar-winning campaign for star Jennifer Hudson.
Kops also produced the award-winning independent film “Do You Take This Man,” starring Anthony Rapp, Jonathan Bennett, Alyson Hannigan, Thomas Dekker and Mackenzie Astin. The film centers around the wedding of a gay couple, with the wedding scene shot the same day the Supreme Court decision in support of gay marriage was announced in 2015.