John Nicholas Calley July 8 1930 September 13 2011 was an American film studio executive and producer He was quite influential during his years at Warner Bros where he worked from 1968 to 1981 and produced a film a month on average including commercial successes like The Exorcist and Superman During his seven years at Sony Pictures Entertainment starting in 1996 five of which he was chairman and chief executive he was credited with reinvigorating that major film studio