Brian Goldner
| The name or term "Brian" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Brian (disambiguation). |
Brian Goldner (born April 21, 1963) is the chief executive officer at Hasbro. He joined the company in 2000 from rival Bandai, to help lead the company to refocus on its core brands such as Monopoly and Transformers, after a disastrous year where Hasbro lost $144 million, costing hundreds of jobs and the closure of the former Kenner Cincinnati offices. The strategy was successful, and in 2006 Goldner was promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer. On February 11th, 2008, it was announced that Goldner was to replace Alfred J. Verrecchia as Chief Executive Officer of Hasbro, effective May 22, 2008. Oddly enough, Goldner also sits on the board of Molson Coors.
In October 2021, Goldner took medical leave due to cancer treatment since 2014.[1]
Involvement in the Transformers films
In 2003, Goldner, who was at that point head of Hasbro's toy group, learned that Hollywood producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was planning a military-themed movie. Goldner convinced Di Bonaventura to turn his film project into a licensed movie based on Hasbro's G.I. Joe line.[2]
Following the US invasion of Iraq in March of 2003, however, a movie named "G.I. Joe" was no longer considered viable, so it was decided to change the project into a Transformers movie instead.[3] A G.I. Joe movie was ultimately produced several years later. For the Transformers movie, Goldner also helped bring together Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks along with Steven Spielberg. Goldner is officially credited as executive producer for the 2007 Transformers movie and its sequels, Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon Age of Extinction and The Last Knight, as well as the G.I. Joe movies The Rise of Cobra and Retaliation. He also appeared in several interviews for the movie and the associated toys and video games.
Notes
- His real life daughter, Brooke Goldner would later go on to voice for Transformers as Cyberwarp in Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
