It’s double your pleasure at Fox Searchlight Pictures

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In true Hollywood fashion, in which top executives often share the same promotion and title, Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley have been handed their president stripes at Fox Searchlight Pictures. The pair had been the specialty division’s chief operating officers under their former boss Peter Rice, who became chairman of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Company in March.

Gilula and Utley, who have worked in tandem over the last five years overseeing the marketing and distribution of such hits as ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ ‘Juno’ and ‘Little Miss Sunshine,’ have signed a new multiyear deal and will report directly to Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos, who, by the way, share the chairman title at News Corp.’s Fox Filmed Entertainment unit.

Along with President of Production Claudia Lewis, Gilula and Utley are now responsible for managing all aspects of Fox Searchlight’s production, acquisitions, marketing and distribution activities. The two were named chief operating officers in 2006 and, during their combined tenure, have marketed and distributed 77 movies, which have amassed more than $1.3 billion at the domestic box office, according to Fox.

Utley previously held marketing posts at 20th Century Fox and before that worked at the ad agencies BBDO and Grey Advertising in New York.

Before he joined Fox, Gilula worked in exhibition, serving as president and chief executive of Landmark Theatres, which he co-founded in 1974.

-- Claudia Eller