James Cameron's Lightstorm Hires Kathy Franklin To Guide 'Avatar' Brand

LOS ANGELES (August 9, 2011) __ Kathy Franklin has been named President of Franchise Development at Lightstorm Entertainment. Announced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, thehire signifies Lightstorm's commitment, in collaboration with Twentieth Century Fox, to building thefranchise and brand of AVATAR beyond the traditional licensing and merchandising avenues. Cameron commented, Anticipating the exponential growth of the Avatar universe, we lookedfor someone who could lead a team that will cement Avatar as a world class brand across allplatforms and markets. Kathys experience, coupled with her drive and vision for what Avatar canbe, made her the right choice. Franklin is a seasoned leader with a proven record of designing and implementing industry-leadingbranding, growth and communications strategies. As Vice President of Global Studio FranchiseDevelopment for Disney Consumer Products, she led the strategies that drove the DisneyPrincess, Disney Fairies, Cars and Toy Story franchises while building integrated partnerships withfilm, television, and online divisions of The Walt Disney Company. Before that, Franklin was VicePresident of Disney Worldwide Outreach, during which she ran marketing and communicationsfor all corporate philanthropic outreach and charitable giving. Franklin's first position at Disneywas Director of Disney Learning Partnership, a philanthropy focused on supporting creativeapproaches to teaching and learning, which she helped launch and for which Franklin createdDisneyLearning.org and executive produced "The Creative Classroom Series," an award-winningset of videos and educator guides. "Bringing Kathy onboard at Lightstorm further reflects the unique creative and businessrelationship shared by Fox and Lightstorm on the Avatar franchise," said Oren Aviv, TwentiethCentury Fox's Chief Marketing Officer, and Tony Sella, Fox's Chief Creative Officer. "Jim Cameroncreated an amazing universe of mass appeal and we're confident that with Kathy in place, thispartnership will further capitalize on the tremendous opportunities inherent in this awesomeproperty." "Kathy has proven herself to be a forward thinker who possesses the ability to bring new ideasto life," said Landau. "With Kathy's leadership, in collaboration with the team and infrastructureat Fox, I'm confident our franchises will grow in innovative ways that remain consistent with thequality and themes of our films." "From the beginning, Jim and Jon have viewed AVATAR as a franchise whose storytelling hasglobal reach and impact across multiple platforms. I look forward to leading this exciting new phasein the evolution of the franchise and to working with the team at Twentieth Century Fox to driveAVATAR's continued growth," said Franklin. Franklin will be based at Lightstorm's Santa Monica headquarters.