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Michael Lynne is Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of New Line Cinema Corporation. During his almost 25 year long association with the company, he has been a driving force in its becoming the most successful, fully integrated independent film company in the world, with divisions devoted to the production, marketing and distribution of theatrical motion pictures as well as home entertainment, television, music, theater, licensing and merchandising.
Together with his Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer Bob Shaye, Mr. Lynne is an Executive Producer of New Line’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, of which the final installment, The Return of the King, was the winner of 11 Academy Awards, including best picture, tying the record for most wins ever. New Line is a pioneer in franchise filmmaking and its Lord of the Rings trilogy is the most successful film franchise in history, with The Return of the King only the second film to attain a worldwide box office gross in excess of $1 billion.
In addition to The Lord of the Rings, during Mr. Lynne’s tenure at New Line, the studio has produced and distributed a diverse mix of both financially successful and critically acclaimed motion pictures, including Elf, About Schmidt, The Player, the Austin Powers trilogy, Blade, Rush Hour, Magnolia, Shine, Seven, Dumb and Dumber, Wag the Dog, The Mask, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hairspray (which the studio later co-produced on Broadway, winning the Best Musical Tony Award) and the Nightmare on Elm Street series.
Over the years Mr. Lynne has helped oversee and direct New Line’s successful transition from a closely-held small business to its listing as a publicly traded company on the American Stock Exchange (1986); the formation of its subsidiary, Fine Line Features (1990); its purchase by Ted Turner’s Turner Broadcasting System (1993); Time Warner’s purchase of Turner (1996); and AOL’s merger with Time Warner (2001).
Together with Mr. Shaye, Mr. Lynne has helped shape the direction of the film industry as a whole with the development of new and unconventional strategies relating to the production, marketing and distribution of motion pictures, including, among others, the pre-sale of international distribution rights, creating and exploiting niche franchises, harnessing off-peak movie going periods and the unprecedented simultaneous production of the three films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Prior to his appointment as Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer in 2001, Mr. Lynne had previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line Cinema since 1990, and as Counsel to the company for a decade before that. He has been a member of the Board of Directors (now Executive Committee) since 1983. His alliance with Mr. Shaye dates back to 1961, when they both attended Columbia Law School.
Prior to his full-time work with New Line, Mr. Lynne was a partner for twenty years with Blumenthal & Lynne, specializing in entertainment law. He also worked with Barovick & Konecky, an entertainment law firm, and as resident counsel for Embassy Pictures.
Mr. Lynne is a member of the Boards of the Museum of Modern Art, Citymeals-on-Wheels, the American Museum of the Moving Image, the Drawing Center and chairs the Museum Committee of Guild Hall of East Hampton. He also is a member of the Board of Visitors of Columbia Law School and the Dean’s Council of Columbia University School of the Arts. Mr. Lynne is a member of the New York Bar and received his J.D. degree from Columbia Law School in 1964. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1961 as an English Literature Major. | 