The newly created FoxNext division is to be headed up by Salil Mehta. As President of FoxNext, Mehta will oversee location based entertainment, video gaming, and virtual and augmented reality developments across Twentieth Century Fox Film and Fox Networks Group.
In line with his broad remit across the Group, Mehta’s direct reports will be Greg Lombardo, SVP Fox Location Based Entertainment; Brendan Handler, SVP New Media and General Manager of FoxNext’s VR Studio; Rick Phillips, EVP Fox Interactive and Ted Schilowitz, Fox Futurist.
Location Based Entertainment
FoxNext will oversee the company’s location-based entertainment including the development of the 20th Century Fox World theme park in Malaysia.
VR Strategy
Also falling under FoxNext’s remit will be the production of studio franchise VR experiences, eg ALIEN and PLANET OF THE APES productions, and the development of VR strategy and commercial opportunities.
Video Gaming
The video gaming groups responsible for THE SIMPSONS: TAPPED OUT mobile game and the ALIEN: ISOLATION console/PC game will now be in one new interactive unit in FoxNext.
Fox Innovation Lab
FoxNext evolved from Fox Innovation Lab and Mehta will participate in the management of the Lab.
Extending our storytelling to new platforms in new ways is a constant focus for us as we look to build more touch points with consumers every day
Mehta’s previous roles include President, Content Management for Twentieth Century Fox Film. Before joining Twentieth Century Fox Film in 2013, Mehta held a number of senior executive roles at NBCUniversal and had prior to that had worked for 14 years for The Walt Disney Company.
He will report jointly to Peter Rice, Chairman and CEO of Fox Networks Group, and Stacey Snider, Chairman and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox Film.
Commenting on the announcement, Rice said, “We’re excited by the power of new technologies to drive the art of storytelling forward and we know we’ve only scratched the surface. Salil brings a strategic business vision and a deep understanding of new technologies allowing us to expand our creative capabilities.”
Snider added, “Extending our storytelling to new platforms in new ways is a constant focus for us as we look to build more touch points with consumers every day. Building on the momentum we’ve already seen in this area via the Fox Innovation Lab, FoxNext represents a natural next step in defining our long-term vision in this arena, and Salil is quite simply the perfect executive to build this group into what we know will be an industry leader.”