Walter Hamada, the former DC Films president who recently vacated the position, has found a new home. He has signed an exclusive producing deal with Paramount to oversee their horror line. The deal goes into effect on January 1, 2023.

The move was announced just weeks after he left Warner Bros. where he oversaw the DC projects. While at that post, he oversaw Joker, an Oscar-winning and $1 billion grossing movie, as well as the highly successful The Suicide Squad and The Batman. Before that, Hamada worked at New Line on their horror titles, including The Conjuring and It franchises.

Paramount has seen recent success in horror with Smile, a $17 million budget movie that has earned $209 million at the global box office. Hamada will be in charge of releasing several mid-budget horror movies each year for both theatrical release and streaming.

“With his track record for groundbreaking success, Walter is the ideal partner and visionary to build out our mainstream horror genre franchise business,” Paramount Pictures President & CEO Brian Robbins said. “As evidenced by the fantastic performance of Smile, there is a tremendous appetite for original, high-concept storytelling in the global marketplace, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership.” 

“I am thrilled to collaborate with Paramount Pictures with the singular goal of creating exceptional movies in the horror genre,” Hamada said. “Over the course of my career, nothing has been more gratifying than discovering emerging, first-time filmmakers and writers and unleashing their brilliance in a studio setting. Thank you to Brian and the entire team at Paramount Pictures for this tremendous opportunity, I can’t wait to get started.”