Thomas Tull

Thomas Tull (born June 9, 1970) is an American billionaire businessman and film producer. He is the former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Legendary Entertainment. His firm has produced and/or financed several major films, including The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, The Hangover and its sequels, 300, Man of Steel and others.

Early life

Tull grew up in Endwell, New York, the son of a dental hygienist single mother. As a youth, Tull was an athlete, playing baseball and football, earning a football scholarship. Tull graduated from nearby Hamilton College in 1992.

Career

After college, Tull abandoned plans to become a lawyer and instead went into business, starting a chain of laundromats. Among his innovations were different prices according to demand at different times of day. Tull went into the field of financing, buying and selling several tax and accounting offices. In the private equity business, Tull rose to president of Convex Group and later, chief of operations of Tax Services of America. His firm invested in entertainment, where Tull began to learn the entertainment business. After discussing the potential of private equity with a film executive in 2003, Tull quit Convex, raising $600 million in equity to finance movies under the Legendary Pictures banner. The company entered into a partnership in 2005 with Warner Bros. to jointly finance and produce films. In 2009, Tull became the majority shareholder of Legendary, in a buyout of the original investors. The Warner deal was followed by a similar deal with Universal Studios in 2013. He also helped produce the film Blackhat.

Tull describes himself as a "fanboy" of comics and several of the films produced by Legendary were personal favorites of Tull. Watchmen had been in "development hell" for years when Tull arranged to pick up the rights. 300 had been turned down by other studios. Tull also describes himself as a "gamer", and founded the short-lived Brash Entertainment to work on film-to-video game conversions.

Tull is a member of the board of trustees for the American Film Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, and the San Diego Zoo. In 2009, Tull became a part-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. Tull had been a fan of the Steelers since age four, watching the Steelers take on the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IX.

Tull is a billionaire. He has donated US$1 million to Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Personal life

He resides in Thousand Oaks, California with his wife Alba and their children. On January 16, 2018, his home was listed for $85 million and is one of the largest private residences in the world. He plans to move his business and family to the Pittsburgh area.

Filmography as producer