Global content leader Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) today announced Marisa Liston, the highly respected former Executive Vice President of Publicity for Sony Pictures Entertainment will lead all Feature Film and Motion Picture Group communications for the studio as Head of Global Earned Media and Communications.

Liston takes on a critical new role at Lionsgate overseeing a combination of three areas: Domestic and International Feature Film Publicity, Lionsgate Feature Film and Branded Social Media Strategy, as well as Film and Motion Picture Group Communications Strategy. Liston will report to Damon Wolf, President of Worldwide Marketing for Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group.

Liston will quickly jump into Lionsgate’s 2019 film slate beginning with the Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron romantic comedy, Long Shot, which recently had a wildly successful premiere at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival and was awarded its 2019 Audience Award. Directed by Jonathan Levine the film opens May 3rd.

A 17-year veteran of Sony Pictures, Liston most recently served as Executive Vice President of Domestic Publicity where she oversaw a 32 member department with staff in New York, Los Angeles and Canada. She led some of Sony’s biggest blockbuster campaigns including this year’s Academy Award-Winning Animated Feature “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse,” as well as some of Sony’s most recent hits, “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.

“After 17 years at Sony, I honestly wasn’t looking for another studio job but Lionsgate is not looking to do things like other studios,” said Liston. “Damon and Joe expect me to push boundaries in a meaningful way, being bolder in our strategies, more creative in our execution, and to innovate and challenge the traditional PR paradigms. What works, works for a reason, but what doesn’t isn’t changing fast enough. I am excited by the amazing slate Lionsgate has in place, the forward thinking approach it is taking in the global marketing division and I cant wait to work with the current staff and the many filmmakers and artists I’ve worked so closely with in the past. For me this feels like an opportunity I couldn’t find anywhere but Lionsgate.”

“We hit the jackpot with Marisa,” said Wolf. “I can’t think of a more effective marketing executive whose knowledge and leadership will ensure the seamless transition in taking three separate core pillars of feature film marketing to create one central communications hub within Lionsgate’s Global Marketing Division. This major initiative Marisa is leading will not only have an enormous impact on the Motion Picture Group and the success of our films, but throughout the entire Lionsgate Entertainment 360 Ecosystem. Her exceptional track record has been proven time and again with wildly successful campaigns covering every conceivable genre of film. Together, Marisa and I are absolutely aligned in believing that it is imperative to continually reinvent the way we communicate, gain visibility, deploy talent and message our movies in a rapidly changing and expanding media environment. But besides all that, no one, and I mean no one has a more infectious laugh or a smile that can turn a bad day around or make a good day better.”

Liston will play a pivotal role in the global marketing strategy of the upcoming Lionsgate films: “John Wick: Chapter 3 “- “Parabellum,” starring Keanu Reeves, “Angel Has Fallen,” starring Gerard Butler, Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo: Last Blood,” Roland Emmerich’s epic WW2 action film “Midway,” Rian Johnson’s all-star ensemble “Knives Out,” Jay Roach’s closely guarded yet-to be titled film written by Charles Randolph, starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie, and in 2020, the sequel to “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek.

Prior to Joining Sony, Liston worked at Baker-Winoker-Ryder, and served briefly at 20th Century Fox.

About Lionsgate
The first major new studio in decades, Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) is a global content leader whose films, television series, digital products and linear and over-the-top platforms reach next generation audiences around the world. In addition to its filmed entertainment leadership, Lionsgate content drives a growing presence in interactive and location-based entertainment, video games, esports and other new entertainment technologies. Lionsgate’s content initiatives are backed by a nearly 17,000-title film and television library and delivered through a global sales and distribution infrastructure. The Lionsgate brand is synonymous with original, daring and ground-breaking content created with special emphasis on the evolving patterns and diverse composition of the Company’s worldwide consumer base.