Bill Block (b. 1954)
Birthplace:
New York City, New York, USA
Born:
April 2, 1954
William Hunt Block (born April 2, 1954) is an American film producer who was CEO of Miramax from April 2017 to October 2023. His producing credits include W. (2008), District 9 (2009), Fury (2014), Bad Moms (2016), Dirty Grandpa (2016), Halloween (2018), and Halloween Kills (2021). Block was born in New York City, where he attended Columbia University and later became a supporter of the school's film program. Block began his career as a literary agent before founding the Intertalent Agency in 1988, where he represented artists such as Kim Basinger, Samuel L. Jackson, Steven Seagal, Charlie Sheen, John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, Sam Raimi, Roland Emmerich, and William Friedkin. In 1992, he joined International Creative Management as head of West Coast Operations. Block founded Artisan Entertainment, an independent film studio that produced films including The Blair Witch Project; The Buena Vista Social Club; Darren Aronofsky's Pi and Requiem for a Dream; The Limey directed by Steven Soderbergh; The Ninth Gate starring Johnny Depp and directed by Roman Polanski; and David Koepp's Stir of Echoes and Made starring Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. In 2002, Block founded film finance, production, and sales company QED International. He was CEO of QED for 12 years, producing films including Neill Blomkamp's District 9 and Elysium, Oliver Stone's W., and David Ayer's WWII thriller Fury starring Brad Pitt. In 2014, after Media Content Capital took a controlling interest in QED, Block left the company to launch Merced Media with producer Kevin Frakes. From 2015–17, he was managing director of Bill Block Media, producing the commercially successful Bad Moms starring Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell and Dirty Grandpa starring Robert De Niro and Zac Efron. In November 2015, he settled a legal dispute with QED after his former company filed a federal lawsuit alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition concerning the rights to Dirty Grandpa. He was named CEO of Miramax in April 2017. He left the studio in October 2023 following the lapse of his contract with them, forming another production company, BlockFilm, later that month. Producer Jonathan Glickman subsequently replaced Block as Miramax's CEO on April 2, 2024. Block lives in the Hollywood Hills with his wife, Eugenia Kuzmina, a model, actress, and comedian; his two sons; and a daughter. He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bill Block, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.