EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Marisa Liston and David Edwards, Lionsgate’s president and executive vice president of theatrical marketing, will be stepping away from their posts. A new search is promptly underway by Lionsgate for a new head of marketing.
Elzer & Associates
Liston joined Lionsgate in 2019 as EVP Publicity, responsible for the publicity campaigns in support of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Knives Out, Angels Has Fallen, Midway, and other hits. She was promoted to President of Worldwide Marketing last August, overseeing the marketing campaigns for American Underdog, Moonfall, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.
Edwards is a ten-year veteran of the studio, rising through the studio’s digital and strategic marketing departments.
Joe Drake, chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group told Deadline, “The mark of a great executive is to leave a place better than she found it and Marisa will be doing that. In a time of constant change and unpredictability, and as we continue to align our company to meet our ever-evolving business goals, Marisa has been an inspiring and creative leader. We are going to miss having Marisa as a colleague and are sad that she has decided to step away.”
Before Lionsgate, Liston was a 17-year veteran of Sony Pictures, serving most recently as EVP of Domestic Publicity and leading Sony’s biggest campaigns including Oscar-winning animated feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, as well as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Venom, Hotel Transylvania 3, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Peter Rabbit, among others. Over the years, she was a crucial PR architect for the four most recent James Bond films, Roland Emmerich’s 2012, Men in Black 3, the Jump Street franchise, Looper, This Is The End, Zombieland, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Super Bad, Sausage Party, The Interview, Zero Dark Thirty, and The Da Vinci Code, among many others. Prior to joining Sony, she worked as a personal publicist at Baker-Winoker-Ryder and served briefly at 20th Century Fox.
Lionsgate
It was announced that Edwards was promoted to EVP Global Marketing in March, but we’ve heard he’s been in the position since last August. His award-winning work has included responsibility for digital and strategic marketing efforts across all of the studio’s tentpole franchises and major theatrical film releases since 2012. He has worked with best-in-class talent across a wide array of initiatives, including creative advertising, digital marketing and social media, tech partnerships, branded content integrations and international marketing, and has also been instrumental in campaigns for Spiral: From the Book of Saw, The Hitman’s Bodyguard films, Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor, The Expendables franchise, Sicario and Hacksaw Ridge.
Prior to Lionsgate, Edwards worked for the Beverly Hills-based social media and digital creative agency, Digital Media Management. While there, he helped to establish its Theatrical Film Marketing division, working on creative social media campaigns across multiple studio clients.
Lionsgate’s future slate includes such franchise projects as John Wick: Chapter 4, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Expendables 4, and Dirty Dancing, among many others.
