Fox’s Jim Gianopulos To Receive Pioneer Of The Year Award At CinemaCon

Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, will receive the 2015 Pioneer of the Year award, the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation said today. He will be honored at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 22.

Fox has seen its most profitable years ever under Gianopulos’ stewardship. This year, Twentieth Century Fox eclipsed the previously held industry box office record with more than $5 billion in worldwide receipts. One of the longest-tenured studio chairmen in the film industry, Gianopulos oversees all feature film production and marketing for Fox, as well as global distribution of films and television shows.

“We are extremely grateful that Jim will accept this well-deserved honor and help raise funds for the Pioneers Assistance Fund,” said Chris Aronson, president of WRMPPF and president of Domestic Theatrical Distribution of 20th Century Fox. “He is a leader in our industry with a passion and dedication to the creative process and the desire to assist those who need a helping hand. We look forward to celebrating Jim’s personal and professional achievements at CinemaCon 2015.”

Titles during his tenure at the studio include Gone Girl, Birdman, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, The Fault In Our Stars and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Other films include Life of Pi, the Night At The Museum films, the Taken series, The Simpsons Movie, Borat, The Day After Tomorrow, Walk the Line, the Star Wars Trilogy, Minority Report, and Moulin Rouge. He also was behind two of the highest grossing films of all time: Avatar and Titanic.

Past honorees include Cecil B. DeMille, Jack Warner, Darryl F. Zanuck, Jack Valenti, Terry Semel, Sumner Redstone, Sherry Lansing, Alan Horn, Kathleen Kennedy, Jeffrey Katzenberg and last year’s honoree, the late Tom Sherak.