Amy Pascal to step down as Sony co-chairman

CULVER CITY, Calif., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Amy Pascal will leave her position as co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment for a new production venture at the film studio.

Her departure was widely expected after an embarrassing hacking scandal in November in which thousands of Sony executives' emails, including hers, were released. Emails between Pascal and producer Scott Rudin revealed opinions of President Barack Obama for which both publicly apologized. The hackers were attempting to stop the company, a division of Tokyo-based Sony Corp., from releasing the film "The Interview," a comedy about the attempted assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pascal was chief of Sony's film division since 2006, a time in which 95 Sony Pictures Entertainment films led domestic box office lists of weekly revenue, more than any other studio.

She will leave in March and start her own company, concentrating on movies, television and theater, a Sony Pictures statement said, a common Hollywood transition for ousted studio leaders. The company will be located on the Sony Pictures complex in Culver City, Calif.

Sony Pictures will finance her new projects and retain distribution rights, under a four-year contract. Pascal will begin her duties in May.