Los Angeles Times

A shuffle at Warner Bros.

Global distributi­on head will leave studio amid reorganiza­tion.

- By Ryan Faughnder ryan.faughnder@latimes.com Twitter: @rfaughnder

Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, Warner Bros.’ longtime head of internatio­nal distributi­on, is planning to leave the studio by the end of this year after nearly three decades at the Burbank-based film company.

The latest leadership shuffle comes amid a larger regime change at the Time Warner Inc.-owned studio.

Veteran studio marketing chief Sue Kroll stepped down this year in a broader consolidat­ion of the film studio’s operations under Warner Bros. Pictures Group Chairman Toby Emmerich.

A widely respected executive, Kwan Vandenberg, 54, has led Warner Bros.’ internatio­nal film distributi­on division since 2000 and was a key part of the studio’s push into China, now the world’s second-largest boxoffice market.

During her tenure, the internatio­nal box office became dramatical­ly more important to Warner Bros.’ bottom line. She oversaw the release of major franchises — such as the “Harry Potter” films and Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” trilogy — outside the United States and Canada.

She first joined Warner Bros. in 1990 as a sales analyst, after the studio bought Lorimar Film Entertainm­ent, where she worked in internatio­nal marketing.

Hong Kong-born Kwan Vandenberg was ideally suited for the internatio­nal job at Warner Bros., having grown up living in six countries and having learned to speak English, Cantonese and German by age 6.

“Warner Bros. could not have had a better representa­tive in the global marketplac­e,” Emmerich said Monday in a statement.

Tom Molter, who previously reported to Kwan Vandenberg, will take over the internatio­nal distributi­on operations at the studio, reporting to worldwide theatrical distributi­on and home entertainm­ent President Ron Sanders.

In a Monday memo to the staff, Warner Bros. announced Kwan Vandenberg’s departure as part of a larger reorganiza­tion in its film division.

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