JP Richards has been appointed head of film marketing strategy at Apple TV+, reporting to Zack Van Amburg. Deadline reports that Richards will start the job next month, when his exit from Warner Bros is official.
Mike Fleming Jr. for Deadline:
Last November, he left his position as Co-President of Worldwide Marketing at Warner Bros, one of several well regarded marketing executives who exited in the WarnerMedia restructure.
Richards will help spearhead the growing ambitions of Apple’s original film slates.
Richards spent six years at Warner Bros… While there, he oversaw campaigns for Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Joker, A Star is Born, IT Chapter 1 and 2, They Shall Not Grow Old, The Lego Movies, The Conjuring Series, Creed and Creed 2. In his dozen years at Universal, he hatched digital campaigns for The Bourne Identity, Fast & Furious and Despicable Me franchises, among other films.
Apple is ramping up after launching a year ago under Worldwide Video heads Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht. Last week, it spent big for the worldwide rights to the package Kitbag, which Ridley Scott will direct with Joaquin Phoenix playing French leader Napoleon Bonaparte.
MacDailyNews Take: The hiring of JP Richards is just the latest sign that Apple TV+ is now shifting into third gear after having launched in first gear on November 1, 2019 and shifting into second with the acquisition and July 10th premier of Greyhound in 2020, Apple TV+’s first bona fide blockbuster hit.
Warner has lost one of its brothers. I will paint an artwork to commiserate and celebrate. It’s what I do, I am the world’s best fartist, it’s the hand I was dealt – heaven scent no less.
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