Dan Lin

Dan Lin is a film and television producer whose credits include *Sherlock Holmes*, *The Lego Movie*, *It* and Disney’s live-action *Aladdin*. Born in Taiwan, he moved to the United States as a child. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School before working at Warner Bros. Pictures.

At Warner Bros., Lin was involved in developing films before leaving to establish his own production company, Lin Pictures, in 2008. One of its early releases was *Sherlock Holmes* (2009), directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. as Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective. Lin also produced its 2011 sequel, *Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows*, which brought Downey and Jude Law back as Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Lin Pictures produced *The Lego Movie* (2014), directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The animated film follows Emmet, an ordinary construction worker voiced by Chris Pratt who is mistaken for someone destined to save the Lego world. Lin went on to produce related films, including *The Lego Batman Movie* and *The Lego Ninjago Movie* in 2017, followed by *The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part* in 2019. Those projects made toy-based storytelling a substantial part of his filmography.

His work also moved into horror. Lin produced *It* (2017), Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about children confronting a shape-shifting entity in Derry, Maine. Bill Skarsgård played its clown form, Pennywise. Lin returned as a producer for *It Chapter Two* (2019), which follows the characters as adults.

In 2018, Lin Pictures was renamed Rideback. Under that name, the company produced *Aladdin* (2019), Disney’s live-action adaptation of its 1992 animated film. Ritchie directed, with Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Naomi Scott as Jasmine and Will Smith as the Genie. Rideback’s credits also include Netflix’s live-action television adaptation of *Avatar: The Last Airbender*, released in 2024.

In February 2024, Netflix announced that Lin would become its chairman of film, succeeding Scott Stuber. The appointment marked a shift from running an independent production company to overseeing a major streaming service’s film operation. Across those roles, Lin’s identifiable work spans detective adventures, Lego animation, Stephen King adaptations and Disney remakes—projects tied to specific, established stories rather than a single original franchise of his own.