Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman (Merged Threads)

[SnorkletsMom]

Dick Cook leaves Disney
Dick Cook leaves Disney

Stepping down as chairman after serving 38 years

By Gregg Kilday
Sept 18, 2009, 08:08 PM ET


In a surprise announcement, Dick Cook said Friday that he is stepping down as chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, effectively immediately.

"I have loved every minute of my 38 years that I have worked at Disney ... from the beginning as a ride operator on Disneyland's steam train and monorail to my position as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios," Cook said. "To wrap up my Disney experience in a neatly bundled statement is close to impossible. But what I will say is, during my time at the Studio, we have achieved many industry and company milestones."

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Wow, big news!

[OC2Epcot]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

I just saw that story on ABC7. Wonder who will replace him.

[yoyoflamingo]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Wow. This is shocking news! He is well respected I believe and it's so soon after the presentation at D23!

I am curious who his successor will be.

[Crazy Larry]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Why the sudden step down? Or was it a force out?

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Word is he was fired.

[Crazy Larry]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Nikki Finke had this...

Disney is adamantly telling people tonight that Dick Cook was not fired. But that's not what Cook himself is telling Hollywood tonight. ("I'm shocked by Dick's ouster. I love him more than life," said one Disney insider. "I walked out of a meeting and heard this. And, 4 minutes later, you post it.") There's been a lot of talk that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige spent a lot of time with Disney CEO Bob Iger during the dealmaking to buy the company, and Feige impressed the hell out of Iger.

Gotta love politics.

[PinokeFan]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Wow-o-wow! I am flabbergasted!

And to think that, exactly one week ago, he was standing on the D23 stage with the likes of John Travolta, Nicholas Cage, Bob Zemeckis, Tim Burton, and Johnny Depp.

[RandySavage]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

I predicted this in the "Iger Moment of Clarity" thread on May 5th of this year. Sadly, I was right on the money.

http://micechat.com/forums/disney-business/115994-iger-needs-moment-clarity.html

Ouch. This summer looks dismal for Disney: Touchstone, Miramax and Disney could not produce one live-action, big budget spectacular to compete with Transformers, Wolverine, Star Trek, Harry Potty and the like. Their tentpoles are Up (commercial?) and G-force.

Dick Cook may be out of job come the fall. That's a shame because he seems like a nice guy and very solid film executive.

It's one thing to pick winning films, but this summer, the Studio isn't even throwing it's hat in the game. Right now they are last in grosses among the majors, barely above Lionsgate.

So I was dead wrong about Up being commercial, but as a major studio, you need to have a handful of tent-pole live-action (potential) blockbusters every summer or saturate the marketplace with inexpensive star vehicles. Disney did neither this year and was caught with their pants around their ankles (currently 5th among the majors in grosses). Pipeline looks stronger for the fall/Christmas, but Dick's firing was almost inevitable.

Dick Cook deserves a lot of credit for his work, though. For one, he approved of Johnny Depp's off-kilter take on Jack Sparrow when other execs wanted Depp to play the role straighter. It was Johnny's Sparrow that made PotC into WDS's greatest franchise.

[Magenta Panther]

Dick Cook is leaving Disney!

Wow...this is a shocker:

Dick Cook, Walt Disney Studios Chairman, Is Stepping Down

BTW, I despise the Huffington post, but it's the first site I saw carrying this news...

Geez...just saw the guy at D23...what happened?

[Roger55]

Dick Cook Resigns as head of The Walt Disney Studios

In an abrupt move, Dick Cook has resigned effecitve immediately as head of the studios. Bob Iger has also made a statement acknowleding Mr. Cook leaving and thanked him for his many years with the company.

If I find some "official" information that I can re-post, I will do so later if not done by somebody else before me.

Update : Found this other discussion going on.

http://micechat.com/forums/disney-business/123882-dick-cook-resigns-studio-chairman.html

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Wow great post

[Mac Daddy]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Something about G - Force made me a bit uneasy about the future of the Walt Disney Studios. Sad to see him go though.

[goofystitch]

Re: Dick Cook is leaving Disney!

I too am curious how this came so quickly. Usually when somebody resigns, they give a notice, not an immediate termination of employment. Dick Cook seemed so passionate about the work he was doing during his presentation at the D23 Expo and I saw him several times throughout the event. He was there as a fan of Disney, so it seems odd to me that he would suddenly walk away. Some sites are reporting that he was actually fired by Bob Iger. While I never like to spread rumors, his sudden departure seems really odd and leaves me wondering if that isn't true.

I'm a big fan of Dick Cook and after his presentation, my friends and I started using "Cook" as an acronym for all things awesome. As in "The D23 Expo was so Cook!" I've never been so excited for a sleight of upcoming Disney films as I am right now, which is all thanks to Dick Cook. I'm sure he will find tremendous success elsewhere, but I will miss having his touch on Disney films.

[Ghostbuster626]

Dick Cook just resigned from Disney...

Head of Walt Disney Films resigns...relevant here because he began his career at Disneyland as a monorail operator.

[Circarama]

Re: Dick Cook just resigned from Disney...

Here's a news link
[UPDATED] Walt Disney studio chief Dick Cook resigns | Company Town | Los Angeles Times

[Ghostbuster626]

Re: Dick Cook just resigned from Disney...

Breaking News on the Business of Entertainment & Media - Deadline.com

Iger fired cook, cook teared up at meeting

[Mr Ness]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Nikki Finke updated her blog again:

3RD UPDATE: I hear that, after his meeting with Bob Iger, Dick Cook called a staff meeting -- "a big, big room full of people" -- and told them that he'd been fired after 38 years at Disney. Then Dick teared up. He explained his ouster by saying that he and Iger had never had a close relationship where they'd been on the same wave length. I'm also told that Cook's firing is "playing very badly" on the Disney lot.

I'm not surprised that it turns out that he isn't voluntarily leaving his post.

Recently, I found myself in a discussion regarding the movie industry, and somebody pointed out that Disney hadn't released a big movie in a while that wasn't Pixar's. I argued the point, but then blanked on any major non-Pixar movies from the last year and a half. All I could come up with was Bolt, G-Force and Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Quite a sad line-up.

On the other hand, I do like where the studios are moving, with Tron 2, Prince of Persia and PotC4 along with, of course, the Pixar films and the Disney Animation films. It just seems so odd that such a large hole in the release schedule was accepted. Admittedly, Narnia was supposed to be one of their big franchises that ended up short, but that was still at the beginning of last summer. Since then, talking animals, Disney Channel movies, and Up.

[GhostHost]

Re: Dick Cook resigns as studio chairman

Why couldn't it have been Jay Rasulo that left!

[cpuJesse]

Disney Store no longer in my town

im from Stockton, CA..yeah yeah, Stockton sucks and we shouldnt be allowed one here anyway BUT, we had one and they closed it and WE WANT IT BACK! anyone know of anyway to lobby to get it back in town? We have a knew upscale shopping center(stores like REI, Anne Taylor Loft, Gymboree, Coldwater Creek, etc.) called Stone Creek Village, that would be a perfect location for a Disney Store, especially with the children's clothing store, Gymboree, being there and the Gymboree Play N Music(preschool) in the same plaza.