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EXCLUSIVE: One of the biggest question marks since Lionsgate merged with Summit has been what would happen to their two veteran marketing heads, Tim Palen and Nancy Kirkpatrick. So here’s what’s been decided because the two companies have a big slate of films coming: Tim Palen has just been given a new long-term deal as Chief Marketing Officer at 
Lionsgate, which is the title he already holds. And Summit’s President of Worldwide Marketing Nancy Kirkpatrick will continue in her role. Included on their individual plates are more Hunger Games films for Lionsgate as well the finale of the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part 2, for Summit. I think it’s a smart decision to keep the two marketing groups especially since the two labels are still separate for now and the forseeable future, if for no other reasons than you’d hate to see either of these two pros go to the competition. And if the two labels ever become one, then Palen and Kirkpatrick should have a Fight Club brawl — and I’ll be there to watch.
Related: Inside The Summit And Lionsgate Merger: Layoffs Are The Order Of The Day
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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The question had to become, how could you fire the guy after what was done on Hunger Games, yet how could you fire the woman after what she’s done on Twilight?
Best f–king news I’ve read all day.
Sounds like the premise to ‘He Said, She Said’
Oh wait, this isn’t a movie? My bad.
Tim Palen’s got this!
love me some tim palen
HUNGER GAMES and TWILIGHT were “pre-sold” to their audiences.
You could have scrawled the titles on a whiteboard and audiences would still find a way to see them.
The question is, why did SUMMIT FAIL on every movie that didn’t have TWILIGHT in the title? They had a number of well executed genre movies that bombed…
I wouldn’t say that’s fair at all. There were considerable fan bases for both properties prior to release but those audiences were no where as big as the box office on both titles. The marketing of both teams helped raise awareness of the hot properties to wider audiences, increasing book sales dramatically before the film ever hit theaters. What’s most important for both teams, neither fucked up and pissed of the pre-established fan base at any point in the first campaigns. Piss them off and you have a PR storm to deal with before you even get marketing.
Seriously. Wasn’t it Cimarron Group that actually did all the marketing for the Twilights? And while we’re on the subject, why did LG take on Rob Friedman after he had to publicly apologize for the horrible marketing on Will, or Bandslam, or Rock On, or whatever the hell that pic was finally named?
They are both among the best at what they do in the entertainment business.
Tim, especially, is a marketing visionary.
With all due respect: are you insane? Do you want a list of films Palen has butchered, or should we just stop with WARRIOR, which is the best film Lionsgate has ever had and Palen marketed it straight into the ground. Visionary? Stop posting and get some help.
TIM PALEN DID NOT RUN THE HUNGER GAMES CAMPAIGN!!!
LG knew better, brought in outside help. That and the pre-awareness is what created that juggernaut.
But the Warrior debacle — that’s his baby.
That campaign for “Warrior” was terrible. Movie was incredible. No one I know saw it cuz the posters and the trailer were so lame. Couldn’t believe it when I saw it.
Not sure what happened to my earlier replay (they seem to come and go at will here), but “i know” has it correct. Tim Palen was essentially a tourist in the Hunger Games campaign. Terry Press and Julie Fontaine were the parties responsible for The Hunger Games’s great success and should be the ones getting their praises sung. But like a good Hollywood exec, Tim has had no trouble taking credit for the work he didn’t do. Seriously, if you don’t believe us, just look at his other campaigns and ask yourself, how is the man who butchered the marketing for Warrior, Devil’s Double, Conan, Abduction, Cabin in the Woods, Safe, One for the Money, The Next Three Days, Saw 3D, Killers, Kick Ass, From Paris with Love, Rambo… the same man who is ‘suddenly’ a marketing visionary? Tim’s vision is only as good as it takes for him to see someone else’s campaign and ‘borrow’ all of the most basic elements. Yes, the guy who spoiled the ending to Warrior in the trailer is the same visionary who wouldn’t show you the games in The Hunger Games trailer.
Trust me, the only people praising Tim Palen today anywhere in the industry are the people who work under him who just had their jobs saved (and that includes those in this very comments section).
Some previous posters nailed it. Monkeys could have done the marketing for Twilight and Hunger Games. Get someone in there that can get butts in the seats to see amazing movies that no one saw! Like 50/50, Warrior, A Better Life, and The Hurt Locker. All tough movies to market, true, but if they would have had truly creative people marketing these films they could have been huge successes.
Anyone notice the barrage of positive comments when articles are written about marketing execs? Seems obvious to me that these people who are so obsessed with online publicity are writing their own praise.