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 (April 21, 1963 – October 12, 2021) was 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 sat on the board of Molson Coors.
On October 10, 2021, Goldner stepped down from his position to take medical leave from a continued treatment of prostate cancer since 2014, with Rich Stoddart taking over as interim CEO. He passed away two days later.[1][2]
Involvement in Transformers Armada
Goldner was the origin behind Armada's, wanting a 'back to basics' cars-Autobots-versus-Decepticons angle and also wanting a concept based on collecting, based on the 'collectible play' toylines in Japan. (Before being promoted to CEO, Goldner had been involved in the market-devouring Tamagotchi franchise) He also decided to bring back co-development with TakaraTomy, which had dropped for years, to share the burden and make a line that would be big for both companies; they brought in a lot of toy concepts that would shape Armada.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5] 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 as well as producing the G.I. Joe movies and other adaptations of different brands. He also appeared in several interviews for the movie and the associated toys and video games.
Films executive produced
- Transformers
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Transformers: Age of Extinction
- Transformers: The Last Knight
- Bumblebee
- Rise of the Beasts (Posthumous credit)
Notes
- He is the father of Brooke Goldner, the voice of Cyberwarp in Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
External links
- Profile on Forbes.com
- Brian Goldner on the Internet Movie Database
- Hasbro's in memoriam video
- Brian Goldner's Kudoboard page
Footnotes
- ↑ "Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner to take medical leave" from MarketWatch, 10 October 2021
- ↑ "Hasbro Announces the Passing of Beloved Leader and Longtime Chairman & CEO Brian D. Goldner" from Hasbro, 12 October 2021
- ↑ Youtube: "The Toy Armada: Transformers Armada Part 1 Behind The Scenes!" Dec 14, 2021, 05:00 in and then later 10:10
- ↑ "Hasbro's chief transformer" from MarketWatch, 04 December 2008
- ↑ "On Set Interview: Producer Don Murphy On Transformers" from Latino Review, 21 February 2007 (Wayback link)
