Dan Lin
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Dan Lin, the producer behind the Lego movies and the new live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, has been tapped as the new head of film for Netflix, according to sources.
Lin steps into the role vacated by Scott Stuber, who announced in January he would step down in March.
Lin’s name was in the mix since the early days of the headhunting, along with former Disney executive Sean Bailey and Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey, among a handful of others. Bailey seemed like the choice until he wasn’t, with the Feb. 26 shake-up at Disney resulting in his departure after a 15 run at the Burbank-based studio.
Making a deal with Lin was not a slam dunk. Lin remained strongly tied to Rideback, his prolific production company, and Rideback Rise, his equally robust nonprofit endeavor. The two entities proved to be stumbling blocks on previous occasions when he has been in contention for top C-suite positions. In the summer 2022, for example, he was in talks to oversee DC film and TV at Warner Bros., but those talks ultimately fell apart over questions about Rideback.
Under the new deal arrangement, Lin will depart Rideback, leaving his partner Jonathan Eirich and Rideback COO Michael LoFaso as the new co-CEOs of the production company. Lin is due to begin his new job April 1.
Lin already has ties to Netflix. He produced 2017 horror movie Death Note and the 2019 Oscar-nominated drama The Two Popes for the streamer. More importantly, he tackled the difficult and high-profile series adaptation of The Last Airbender, which just became a home run in its first few days, debuting number one in 92 countries. He made Airbender for Bela Bajaria, who ran the TV unit and gained oversight of the film arm in January 2023, when Netflix named her CCO.
Lin began his career as a junior executive at Warner Bros. in the aughts, where his work included The Departed and 10,000 B.C. before he struck out on his own and founded his own production company. As a producer, his films have grossed more than $5 billion globally, with his credits including the It and Sherlock Holmes films, as well as the Lego movies.
Lin enters Netflix in a vastly different landscape than his predecessor. Stuber, who joined the company in 2017, used his talent relations to make the streamer palatable to the Hollywood community. Once he accomplished that, he pushed Netflix to expand into blockbuster movie territory, courting filmmakers such as Zack Snyder, the Russo brothers, Michael Bay and Rawson Marshall Thurber, and starting franchises like Extraction, The Gray Man, and Knives Out.
While the company has not publicly stated its film goals, those who are aware of the current thinking say Netflix is scaling back budgets and the number of its original movies.
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