LOS ANGELES — Kevin Tsujihara will succeed Barry M. Meyer as chief executive of Warner Brothers, the studio announced on Monday, ending a disruptive and lingering competition for one of the biggest jobs in Hollywood. But, with two senior Warner executives publicly passed over, disorder at the studio could continue.
Home to Batman, Bugs Bunny, “Two and a Half Men” and TMZ.com, Warner is Hollywood’s largest movie and television studio. It has also been the industry’s most stable. Mr. Meyer, who is retiring, has led Warner since 1999; a single management team oversaw the studio for the previous 18 years.
A two-year succession contest, however, has brought escalating internal tension, a slowing of routine business and low morale, according to Warner employees and people who have had business dealings with the company. Jeffrey L. Bewkes, chief executive of Time Warner, moved on Monday to end that distraction by promoting Mr. Tsujihara, 48. Scheduled to take over on March 1, Mr. Tsujihara most recently ran Warner’s home entertainment unit, which includes video games and the online distribution of movies and television shows.
“Kevin’s experience is very balanced and has touched all parts of Warner,” Mr. Bewkes said in a telephone interview. “He also has the right temperament to be an effective unifier and leader.”
Mr. Tsujihara immediately faces the challenge of retaining the two executives he beat out for the job. They are Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Television, and Jeffrey Robinov,
president of Warner’s movie division. Mr. Bewkes said he wanted to “keep everybody on the field,” adding that Mr. Rosenblum and Mr. Robinov both have “very big, full jobs.”
Even so, Mr. Rosenblum, who runs Warner’s most profitable division and had been seen by many in Hollywood as the leading candidate to succeed Mr. Meyer, did not hide his displeasure at losing. “Obviously, I’m disappointed; who wouldn’t be?” he said in a statement. He added that Warner “will be in good hands with Kevin.”
Mr. Robinov was more effusive about his new boss. “I am truly happy and proud of Kevin,” he said in a separate statement. “We are both good friends and colleagues, and I think he’s an excellent choice for the job.”
Will Mr. Rosenblum and Mr. Robinov ultimately leave? “We both hope they will stay and support Kevin,” Mr. Meyer, 69, said in a telephone interview. He added, however, “This is news to everybody, and I think they’re thinking it over.”
In some ways, Mr. Tsujihara’s ascendance can be seen as a clear statement of what Time Warner thinks its studio most needs to face the challenges ahead.
While he is respected in Hollywood’s creative community of producers, writers, directors and agents, Mr. Tsujihara does not come from the trenches. Instead, he has been grappling with the Web as a disrupter of distribution and business models. He has also been Warner’s point person on piracy.
Mr. Meyer said Mr. Tsujihara’s qualifications went well beyond that. Calling Mr. Tsujihara “deliberate and thoughtful,” he underscored his successor’s creative skill. In recent years, for instance, Mr. Tsujihara has played a role in deciding what movies Warner puts into production, even routinely reading scripts, Mr. Meyer said. Mr. Tsujihara was also the executive that Warner dispatched to New Zealand in 2010 to solve a labor dispute that threatened “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and two sequels.
Speaking by telephone, Mr. Tsujihara said his immediate plans are “to do a lot of listening” and to work with his former rivals to “create the right transition and the right organizational structure moving forward.”
“I’m coming in at a great time, not a time when we have to make massive changes because we’re not successful,” he said.
Warner, which was founded in 1923, produces more than 50 television programs for various networks, including “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “The Middle” and “The Mentalist.” Last year Warner movies took in about $4.3 billion at the global box office, with hits that included “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Magic Mike.”
Still, the studio faces significant competition in television production from 20th Century Fox and has struggled to bring its stable of DC Comics superheroes — Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash — to movie audiences as Disney’s Marvel Studios has introduced one superhero hit after another.
Mr. Tsujihara joined Warner in 1994 to help with its interest in the Six Flags theme parks. Before taking over home entertainment in 2005, he worked in the studio’s business development and strategy department.