Avi Arad (; he, אבי ארד; born 1948) is an Israeli-American film producer who became the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of

Marvel Entertainment Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Enterprises) is an American entertainment company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York, formed by the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group and Toy Biz. The company is a wholly ow ...

, and the chairman, CEO, and founder of

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Walt Disney Company. Marvel Studios produces the Mar ...

."Marvel Announces New Independent Producer Deal with Avi Arad"
, May 31, 2006

press release A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also consider ...

, via

Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book proje ...

Since then, he has produced a wide array of live-action, animated, and television comic book adaptations including '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'', the 2018 Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature.

Early life

Arad was born in 1948 in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and man ...

, Israel, to a Jewish family. The son of

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Axis powers, its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no unive ...

from Poland, he grew up reading Superman and Spider-Man comics translated into

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. In 1965, he was conscripted as a soldier into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He fought and was wounded in the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

, and spent 15 days recuperating. Arad finished his military service in 1968. In 1970, Arad moved to the United States and enrolled at

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of N ...

to study industrial management. He worked as a truck driver and as a Hebrew teacher to put himself through college, and graduated with a

BBA Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

in 1972.

Career

Marvel Comics

Along with Israeli-American Toy Biz co-owner Isaac Perlmutter, Avi Arad came into conflict with

Carl Icahn Carl Celian Icahn (; born February 16, 1936) is an American financier. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a public company and diversified conglomerate holding company based in Sunny Isles Beach. Icahn takes l ...

and Ron Perelman over control of

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

in the wake of its 1996 bankruptcy. In the end, Arad and Perlmutter came out on top, with Toy Biz taking over

in a complicated deal that included obtaining the rights to Spider-Man and other superheroes that Marvel had sold earlier. He was involved in Marvel's emergence from bankruptcy and the expansion of the company's profile through

licensing A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

and movies.

Arad Productions

On May 31, 2006, Arad resigned his various Marvel positions, including his leadership of

, to form his own production company, Arad Productions (also known as Arad Animation), a company that primarily produces Marvel-licensed films separate from the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...

. His first non-Marvel film was 2007's '' Bratz''. Further ventures include: manga adaptation ''

Ghost in the Shell ''Ghost in the Shell'' is a Japanese cyberpunk media franchise based on the seinen manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized in 1989 under the subtitle of ''The Ghost in the Shell' ...

''; an adaption of

Brandon Mull Brandon Mull is an American author best known for his children's fantasy series, '' Fablehaven'', as well as '' Dragonwatch'', '' The Candy Shop War'', the ''Beyonders'' trilogy, and the ''Five Kingdoms'' series.Howard, Chris (March 7, 2008)Inte ...

's best-seller teenage fantasy, '' Fablehaven'' (which died in production); an adaption of

James Patterson James Brendan Patterson (born March 22, 1947) is an American author. Among his works are the '' Alex Cross'', '' Michael Bennett'', '' Women's Murder Club'', '' Maximum Ride'', ''Daniel X'', ''NYPD Red'', ''Witch & Wizard'', and '' Private'' se ...

's award-winning teenage novel '' Maximum Ride''; the adaptations of two Sony PlayStation properties, ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of Treasure hunting, treasure hunters who tra ...

'' and '' infamous'', and an adaptation of the video game '' Metal Gear Solid''.

Production I.G

On August 25, 2010, it was announced that Arad was given a chair with the American branch of animation studio Production I.G in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Feature films

Direct-to-video

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arad, Avi 1948 births Hofstra University alumni Israeli emigrants to the United States Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli soldiers Living people Marvel Entertainment people Marvel Studios people American film producers Israeli film producers American chief executives Israeli chief executives American people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent American Ashkenazi Jews People from Givatayim Marvel Comics people Sony Pictures Animation people