AKIPRESS.COM - The hackers who plunged Sony Pictures into chaos late last year can claim their biggest prize yet, as the studio’s longtime motion-picture chief said Thursday she will depart, reports Wall Street Journal.

Amy Pascal, who has run Sony Corp.’s movie business for more than a decade and worked at the studio for nearly 20 years, will step down in May as Sony Pictures co-chairman. She will become a producer based at the company.

As recently as November, Ms. Pascal was negotiating with Sony to extend her contract, which expires in March, according to emails stolen by the hackers and released online. However, she was damaged more than other executives by leaked emails, which revealed she was struggling to find a new direction for the studio’s “Spider-Man” franchise, second-guessing many of her own decisions, and facetiously speculated about whether President Obama prefers movies starring black actors.

Ms. Pascal was outraged and upset at the way her emails were picked apart by the media and even found herself chased by paparazzi amid the controversy over whether Sony would release the Seth Rogen comedy “The Interview,” which the hackers—said to be connected to North Korea—wanted to keep out of theaters.

Even before the hack, Ms. Pascal faced challenges. While Sony has had a number of midbudget hits including “22 Jump Street,” “American Hustle” and “Captain Phillips,” it has struggled under Ms. Pascal to create the type of globally popular franchises that can fuel big profits for a studio. This past summer’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” the company’s biggest attempt at such a picture in recent years, was a modest disappointment.