Hateful Eight Producer Will Co-Head Activision Blizzard's Movie Studio

Activision Blizzard has announced The Hateful Eight producer Stacey Sher will co-head Activision Blizzard Studios with the former Disney executive who was announced to head the movie studio, alongside announcements that Call of Duty movies and a Skylanders TV show were in the works.

Sher has produced more than two dozen movies, including multiple Tarantino films such as The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, and Pulp Fiction. She's also produced three Steven Soderbergh films, Contagion, Erin Brockovich, and Out of Sight. Reality Bites, Get Shorty, and Man on the Moon also had Sher as a producer. Her television show productions include Reno 911, UC: Undercover, and an episode of Into the Badlands. Sher has received two Academy Award nominations for her work on Django Unchained and Erin Brockovich.

Nick Van Dyk, the former Disney executive, says he "couldn't be more thrilled to partner with Stacey in building" Activision Blizzard's new movie studio.

"Stacey's immense talent is a great fit for Activision Blizzard Studios, and together we'll bring Activision Blizzard's hugely popular intellectual property to both existing fans and new audiences," said Van Dyk. "Our model is unique: we have a rich library of franchises created over three decades with tens of millions of fans, direct relationships with our audiences and Activision Blizzard's business capabilities, which enable us to operate with incredible efficiency in content creation, marketing, and distribution as compared to the traditional studios."

Van Dyk added that the studio's focused and disciplined strategy will help bring audiences new ways to engage with Activision Blizzard's beloved franchises. Sher said she's excited to work with Activision Blizzard on creating movies and TV shows that are "as great as the games themselves."

"As its large and loyal fanbase can attest, Activision Blizzard has created franchises that mean so much to audiences over the course of 35 years," said Sher. "I look forward to joining Nick, Bobby [Kotick], and the insanely talented and forward-thinking team at Activision Blizzard to develop an even greater voice for these franchises by bringing them into the world of television and film."

We know Activision Blizzard Studios is working on a cinematic universe for its Call of Duty movies, which could start hitting theatres in 2018. Skylanders Academy features the voices of Justin Long, Ashley Tisdale, and Norm McDonald, and is set to air in 2016. We are likely to hear more about these and other projects soon now that both Sher and Van Dyk are in place.

This story has been updated and corrected.