Palak Patel is leaving his position as EVP of Production & Development at Sony Pictures Entertainment to become Chief Creative Officer of Prime Focus Studios, co-founded by Namit Malhotra. The studio recently teamed up with Sony and Alcon Entertainment to produce The Garfield Movie as its animated feature debut.
“I’ve known Namit for over a decade, and we’ve worked together on many films through DNEG, arguably the best VFX company in the world,” commented Patel. “Prime Focus Studios and DNEG joining forces as one company to offer full studio capabilities is game-changing — from acquiring IP, to developing scripts, to assisting filmmakers maximize their creativity while minimizing financial risk — with all the resources provided, from our state-of-the-art soundstages to utilizing DNEG’s artists early in the development process to deliver across all formats and genres.”
During his tenure at Sony, Patel helped over the $18 billion-grossing Venom trilogy, based on the Marvel character. Prior, he was President of Production & Development at Roth Films, where he produced the DNEG-serviced Snow White and the Huntsman, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, In the Heart of the Sea, Maleficent and others.
Founded by Malhotra, an Indian film & TV producer and business executive who also serves as CEO of DNEG, Prime Focus was established as an India-based VFX/post company in 1997 and merged with U.K.-based DNEG in 2014. The studio’s first animated feature project, The Garfield Movie, was directed by animation veteran Mark Dindal (Disney’s Chicken Little and The Emperor’s New Groove) and released in May 2024. The studio’s upcoming slate include the hybrid Ryan Reynolds pic Animal Friends (Warner Bros. | Oct. 10, 2025), The Angry Birds Movie 3 (Rovio) and the VFX-packed two-par Ramayana saga (2026/2027), produced by Malhotra.
[Souces: Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter]
