About

‘Marty Willhite at Legendary Entertainment is a superstar,’ according to one in-house source. Former Munger, Tolles & Olson partner Willhite was already viewed as one of the US entertainment industry’s top lawyers when he joined Legendary in 2011. Previously acting for the likes of MGM and Times Mirror’s majority shareholders Chandler Trusts in game-changing industry transactions, Willhite says the opportunity of becoming Legendary’s first in-house lawyer was too exciting to turn down. ‘The CEO is so compelling and dynamic, I saw the potential,’ he says, though he acknowledges it was a bold move. ‘It was not and remains not without risk – that’s something I wasn’t accustomed to coming from a law firm’. As the studio’s first in-house lawyer, putting the legal function in place has been both ‘challenging’ and ‘exciting’. Willhite handled arrangements for Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank’s $250m joint venture with the studio in 2014. Founded in 2000, Legendary Entertainment produced The Dark Knight and “The Hangover” series.