Thomas Tull

Thomas Tull is basically known for just one thing, but when that one thing is being the founder, chairman, and CEO of Legendary Pictures, perhaps the most progressive and successful motion picture production company to be formed in the 2000s, not much else is required. While attending Hamilton College--a distinguished liberal arts school in Clinton, New York--Tull had aspirations of becoming a lawyer, not a filmmaker. Though he had always been a fan of cinema, he created and sold a handful of unrelated companies and was working in private equity before ever exploring the notion of starting a production company. Tull had an idea for rescuing the film industry from its financial woes, and took on the challenge of realizing that vision. He raised $600 million in investment capital and used the money to team up with Warner Brothers. They began working on modern, edgy film versions of the Superman and Batman properties, the results of which were "Batman Begins" in 2005 and "Superman Returns" in 2006. Tull served as executive producer on the latter, and has repeated that role on dozens of projects that have garnered box office success, mass popularity, and critical acclaim.