Brian Goldner
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Brian Goldner(April 21,1963–October 12,2021) was the chief executive officer atHasbro.He joined the company in 2000 from rivalBandai,to help lead the company to refocus on its core brands such asMonopolyandTransformers,after a disastrous year where Hasbro lost $144 million, costing hundreds of jobs and the closure of the formerKennerCincinnati offices. The strategy was successful, and in 2006 Goldner was promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer. On February 11, 2008, it was announced that Goldner was to replaceAlfred J. Verrecchiaas 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 for treatment of prostate cancer, with Rich Stoddart taking over as interim CEO. He passed away two days later.[1][2]
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Involvement inTransformers Armada
Goldner was behindArmada's 'back to basics' cars-Autobots-versus-Decepticons format and the addition of the 'collectible play' pattern that was common in toylines inJapan.Before being promoted to CEO, Goldner had been involved in the market-devouringTamagotchifranchise. He also decided to bring back co-development withTakaraTomy,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 shapeArmada.[3][4]
Involvement in theTransformersfilms
In2003,Goldner, who was at that point head of Hasbro's toy group, learned thatHollywoodproducerLorenzo di Bonaventurawas planning a military-themed movie. Goldner convinced Di Bonaventura to turn his film project into a licensed movie based on Hasbro'sG.I. Joeline.[5]
Following the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, however, a movie named "G.I. Joe" was no longer considered viable, so it was decided to change the project into aTransformersmovieinstead.[6]AG.I. Joemovie was ultimately produced several years later. For theTransformersmovie, Goldner also helped bring togetherParamount PicturesandDreamWorksalong withSteven Spielberg.Goldner is officially credited as executive producer for the 2007Transformersmovie and its sequels through toRise of the Beasts,as well as producing theG.I. Joemovies 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 was the father ofBrooke Goldner,the voice ofCyberwarpinTransformers: Robots in Disguise.
- TheTransformers: EarthSparkseries premiere, "Secret Legacy, Part 1",Rise of the Beasts,andOnefeature dedications to Goldner in the credits.
External links
- Profile on Forbes
- Brian Goldner on the Internet Movie Database
- Hasbro's in memoriam video
- Brian Goldner's Kudoboard page
References
- ↑"Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner to take medical leave"fromMarketWatch,10 October 2021
- ↑"Hasbro Announces the Passing of Beloved Leader and Longtime Chairman & CEO Brian D. Goldner"from Hasbro, 12 October 2021
- ↑"So that was also a transition time of leadership, and Brian Goldner came on, and he kind of wanted to reinvest in Hasbro's brands [...] versus always relying on the big licenses [...] so why not develop our in-house things a little stronger with a little more directness? So that doomedBeast MachinesandTranstechbecause that whole plan wanted to get back to basics, then. And that's really where this story starts: how do we get back to basics? And what were basics to us then [...] was getting back to vehicles that looked like vehicles [...] and get back to a more traditional Autobot/Decepticon type of storyline. "—Aaron Archer onThe Toy Armada,2021/12/14
- ↑"Brian Goldner wanted to get back to basics, and he wanted a 'collectible' kind of concept. He was familiar with what was happening in Japan prior with various types of collectible play, small play, micro play, things that- years before anything like that came to the western markets. [...] So he understood the potential, and to that end I'll just say, he put a lot of trust in me to make this happen—tremendous amount of trust, when you think about what he was trying to do, because it was really a very small group of us and I was really the only designer that made this happen at the time. So his goal was to have the collectibility, that presented Takara the opportunity to pitch a lot of different ideas that they have had over the years, they were very much happy to- well, let me take a half step back. What Brian also wanted was to bring back was that co-development. [...] For a few years, they were kind of like a partner-vendor; we would come up with ideas and what they would want for theBeast Warsstuff, and Takara would kind of make that happen, even though it wasn't necessarily an item they were going to sell in their market. [...] So they were eager to get a better partnership, we were eager to get a better partnership, just to make better overall product: co-develop the animation, co-develop the products, co-develop all of it. "—Aaron Archer onThe Toy Armada,2021/12/14
- ↑"Hasbro's chief transformer"fromMarketWatch,04 December 2008
- ↑"On Set Interview: Producer Don Murphy On Transformers"fromLatino Review,21 February 2007 (Wayback link)
