Josh
Grode

Grode rolled the dice by committing to another entry in the now-dubbed “MonsterVerse” franchise with “Godzilla vs. Kong,” but the $160 million movie grossed a respectable $440 million at the global box office in spring 2021, triggering the first real comeback for global film exhibition amid the pandemic. He took another kind of gamble with the fall 2021 release of Denis Villeneuve’s $165 million adaptation of Frank Herbert’s esoteric science fiction classic “Dune.” Like “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Dune” faced an all-encompassing release strategy for distributor Warner Bros.’ 2021 film slate that saw films hit theaters and HBO Max at the same time, but “Dune” was also a success and has earned almost $400 million globally. Grode’s bets appear to be paying off: Legendary is coming off its first two consecutive years of profitability since 2011, and in 2021 word leaked that it had hired LionTree to explore the possibility of a merger or sale.