Avi Arad

Avi Arad (/ˈɑːvi ˈɑːrɑːd/; Hebrew: אבי ארד‎; April 18, 1948)[1][2] is an Israeli-American businessman and film producer who became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, a Marvel director and the chairman, CEO and founder of Marvel Studios.[3] Since then, Arad has produced a wide array of live-action, animated, and television comic book adaptations including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the 2019 Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature.

Avi Arad
Arad at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con
Born (1948-04-18) April 18, 1948[1][2]
Ramat Gan, Israel
OccupationFilm producer, businessman
Years active1993–present
Notable work
Marvel Studios (founder and producer)

Early life and career

Arad was born in 1948 in Ramat Gan, Israel,[2] to a Jewish family. The son of Holocaust survivors from Poland, he grew up reading Superman and Spider-Man comics translated into Hebrew. In 1965, he was conscripted as a soldier into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He fought in and was wounded in the 1967 Six-Day War, and spent 15 days recuperating. Arad finished his military service in 1968.[1]

In 1970, Arad moved to the United States and enrolled at Hofstra University to study industrial management. He worked as a truck driver and Hebrew teacher to put himself through college, and graduated with a BBA in 1972.[1][4]

Marvel Comics

Along with Israeli-American Toy Biz co-owner Isaac Perlmutter, Avi Arad came into conflict with Carl Icahn and Ron Perelman over control of Marvel Comics in the wake of its 1996 bankruptcy. In the end, Arad and Perlmutter came out on top, with Toy Biz taking over Marvel Comics 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 and movies.

Later career

On May 31, 2006, Arad resigned his various Marvel positions, including his leadership of Marvel Studios to form his own production company, Arad Productions, a company that primarily produces Marvel-licensed films separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[3] His first non-Marvel film was 2007's Bratz. Future ventures include: manga adaptation Ghost in the Shell; an adaption of Brandon Mull's best-seller teenage fantasy, Fablehaven; an adaption of James Patterson's award-winning teenage novel Maximum Ride; the adaptations of two Sony PlayStation properties, Uncharted[5] and infamous,[6] and an adaptation of Hideo Kojima's video game Metal Gear Solid.[7]

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.[8]

Producer filmography
Year Title Producer Executive
Producer		 Notes
1993 King Arthur and the Knights of Justice No Yes TV series
Double Dragon No Yes
The Bots Master No Yes
1994 Iron Man No Yes
Fantastic Four No Yes
Spider-Man No Yes
1996 The Incredible Hulk No Yes
Generation X No Yes TV pilot
1998 Silver Surfer No Yes
Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. No Yes TV movie
Blade No Yes
1999 Spider-Man Unlimited No Yes
The Avengers: United They Stand No Yes
2000 X-Men: Evolution No Yes
X-Men No Yes
2001 Mutant X No Yes Creator
2002 Blade II No Yes
Spider-Man No Yes
2003 Daredevil Yes No
X2 No Yes
Hulk Yes No
2004 The Punisher Yes No
Spider-Man 2 Yes No
Blade: Trinity No Yes
2005 Elektra Yes No
Man-Thing Yes No
Fantastic Four Yes No
2006 X-Men: The Last Stand Yes No
2007 Ghost Rider Yes No
Spider-Man 3 Yes No
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Yes No
Bratz Yes No Nominated – Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture
2008 Iron Man Yes No
The Incredible Hulk Yes No
2011 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Yes No
2012 The Amazing Spider-Man Yes No
2013 Robosapien: Rebooted Yes No
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures No Yes
2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Yes No
2015 Air Bound No Yes
2016 Kong: King of the Apes No Yes
2017 Tarzan and Jane No Yes
Ghost in the Shell Yes No
Spider-Man: Homecoming No Yes
Super Monsters No Yes Also creator
2018 Venom Yes No
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Yes No
2019 Spider-Man: Far From Home No Yes
2021 Venom: Let There Be Carnage Yes No
Untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel No Yes
2022 Morbius Yes No
Uncharted Yes No
Untitled Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel Yes No

See also

References
  1. Bowles, Scott (May 6, 2003). "Marvel's chief: A force outside, 'a kid inside'". USA Today. Los Angeles: Gannett Co. Inc. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
  2. Hoffman, Jordan (June 13, 2012). "Is Spider-Man Jewish?". Times of Israel. Archived from the original on January 14, 2018. Retrieved February 17, 2019. Avi Arad, born in Ramat Gan in 1948, founded and led Marvel Studios and recently produced for that studio the megasmash “The Avengers.”
  3. "Marvel Announces New Independent Producer Deal with Avi Arad" Archived August 24, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, May 31, 2006 press release, via Ain't It Cool News
  4. "Hofstra University: Frank G. Zarb School of Business - Faces of Success: Avi Arad '72". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008.
  5. Hennig, Amy (June 30, 2009). "Uncharted 2 Live Chat with Naughty Dog". The PlayStation Blog. Sony Computer Entertainment America. Retrieved July 30, 2009. We're really excited about the development of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune as a movie -- we've been working with Arad Productions for the last year-and-a-half or so
  6. Fernandez, Jay A. (July 28, 2009). "Scribe takes on 'inFAMOUS'". The Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen Business Media. Archived from the original on January 9, 2010. Retrieved July 30, 2009. Avi Arad and Ari Arad will produce.
  7. Wales, George (August 30, 2012). "'Metal Gear Solid' movie confirmed". Total Film. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  8. "Spider-Man Producer Avi Arad Becomes I.G. USA Chair". Anime News Network. Anime News Network. August 25, 2010. Archived from the original on August 27, 2010. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
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