Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) chairman John Calley has promoted three of company's leading lights to the position of vice chairman under a new management structure designed to encourage a "constant flow of information". Columbia Pictures chairman Amy Pascal, Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group worldwide marketing and distribution president Jeff Blake and Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment president Yair Landau will retain their roles and assume enhanced day-to-day responsibilities reporting directly to Calley.

In a statement released on Oct 21 Calley said: "These three are largely responsible for our record-breaking year. Their skills are highly complementary with Amy, Jeff and Yair each playing at the top of their games. Amy's motion picture slate is the strongest in industry history. Jeff is widely regarded as the best there is in the distribution business and he's turned around our marketing operation. Yair is successfully leading our way into the digital future."

He continued: "My goal is to let the division heads flourish with the degree of autonomy they deserve while establishing an atmosphere where there is a constant flow of information between the various parts of our massive operation."

Pascal has been at Columbia Pictures for 13 years and became chairman in 1999. This year's slate includes Spider-Man, which scored the highest ever opening for a picture when it came out in May and is the fifth highest grossing picture of all time, Men In Black II, Mr Deeds and Panic Room. Blake joined SPE in 1992 and took on his present role in 2000, while Landau has also been with SPE for ten years and is responsible for online content and development and production of SPE's CG animated feature films.