Oren Aviv to Exit STX Entertainment

Oren Aviv is set to depart STX Entertainment’s motion picture group while remaining on board as a consultant.

“Oren is transitioning from his full-time duties at STX, and I’m happy to say that he will remain on as a strategic consultant for us as we begin our push into the next phase of the UglyDolls franchise with our animated series at Hulu,” said Robert Simonds, chairman and CEO of STX, in a statement received by The Hollywood Reporter.

Aviv’s exit comes in the wake of Ugly Dolls, a big-budget in-house production, bombing at the box office in May. The family film grossed just $20.1 million domestically and another $6.4 million overseas.

STX had hoped the feature would help launch a franchise spanning film, television, gaming and VR, all underpinned by lucrative merchandising sales.

“We thank Oren for his many contributions to STX since the company’s inception and look forward to his continued advice and counsel in this new capacity. We wish him nothing but success in his future endeavors, and I personally want to thank him for his many years of friendship and support,” Simonds added.

Aviv arrived at Simonds’ newly launched studio in 2014 to oversee all development and production for the film division. Aviv previously was chief marketing officer at 20th Century Fox and before that was president of Walt Disney Studios motion picture production.

STX has suffered other box office underperformers this year, including the Diane Keaton starrer Poms ($13 million) and the Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell drama The Best of Enemies ($10.2 million).

One bright spot this year was Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston’s The Upside, a former Weinstein Co. project that it distributed in January. It grossed more than $100 million domestically.

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