David Stainton in as President of Paramount Animation

Paramount has named David Stainton president of its new animation division. Stainton, the controversial former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, will now report to Adam Goodman, President of the Paramount Motion Picture Group and will begin setting up shop this week. According to the Paramount press release:

“Paramount Animation aims to focus on high-quality animation with budgets per picture of up to $100 million, with an initial target of one release per year. The division’s mandate will be the development of the broadest range of family CGI animated films, with a key piece being titles under the label of Viacom’s Nickelodeon, the No. 1 entertainment brand for kids worldwide. Paramount will also build on Viacom’s already thriving global consumer products business by seeking to capitalize on merchandising opportunities tied to all Paramount Animation releases.

“David’s accomplishments speak for themselves, and I am glad to welcome him to the lot as we start this exciting new chapter,” Adam Goodman added. “With David’s leadership, we will look to build on what has been a very strong year for our studio in animation, with Rango and the upcoming Adventures of Tintin pointing to the kind of artist-driven, broad-appeal films we intend to make at Paramount Animation.”

Paramount announced last July that it was launching an in-house animation division. It expects to release its first feature under Stainton in 2014.