The executive producer of The Grey (pictured) is understood to have come on board Megan Ellison’s finance and production house following the recent departure of Rob Barnum.

Butan, an experienced producer and former Lionsgate executive and head of 2929 Productions, has a host of projects lined up as executive producer, among them The Grey, which Open Road will release in the US in January, The Host and Cogan’s Trade, which Annapurna is partly financing.

Annapurna Pictures did not return calls although several sources confirmed the appointment.

Ellison is financing in various capacities a mouthwatering roster of arthouse projects such as John Hillcoat’s The Wettest County, Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, Wong kar-wai’s The Grandmasters and Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher.

Annapurna’s more overtly commercial treasures include the Terminator rights and Kathryn Bigelow’s hunt for bin Laden thriller which Sony is expected to release in 2012.

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