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Yet another Iger ally is conveniently leaving in December:
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Alan Bergman will now become the sole head of the Studios. Bergman's background with Disney is....interesting, with his background being more in the financials of the studio. While that might be good for Wall Street, it doesn't exactly translate to nabbing film talent(which Disney needs after the ScarJo Suit). Disney is planning to retain their current "studios in a studio" approach.
Because of how film production schedules work, any change in quality or content will likely be gradual. By the time Horn retires, he will have overseen productions with release dates into 2023.
Horn is the 3rd major executive to leave with Iger. He joins Zenia Mucha and Alan Braverman in the upcoming joint exit.
It is truly the end of another era at Walt Disney Studios. In a move that many were expecting, Alan Horn, 78, is retiring as Chief Creative Officer of Disney Studios Content, effective December 31. It will end a nine-year run at the Burbank, CA lot in an executive TV and motion picture industry career that has spanned close to 50 years. The news comes in the long wake of Bob Iger’s retirement from Disney which will be at the end of this year. Iger currently serves as Executive Chairman after handing over the CEO reins over to Bob Chapek in February 2020.
Back in December, Alan Bergman was named Disney Studios Content chairman after co-running the division with Horn as a co-chairman since May 2019, as the media conglom made a commitment to spend $14 billion to $16 billion over the next four years. Horn remained on as CCO at the time, shedding some of his duties to zero on the studio’s creative pipeline.
Horn, similar to former NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Ron Meyer, is renowned for his relationships with filmmaking talent and smoothing out feature productions. He is known for his gracious and astute approach to film production situations. He was unceremoniously cut loose from Warner Bros as President and Chief Operating Officer in 2011 after a 12-year run with that Burbank, CA studio, after such hits as the Harry Potter franchise during his tenure.
Following Horn’s arrival at Disney in 2012, he brought stability to the studio after the Rich Ross era of flops, i.e. ,the $300M+ production John Carter and the costly Mars Needs Mom. Horn came to Disney at a time when its acquisitions of platinum brands such as Marvel and Lucasfilm were added to its portfolio alongside its vibrant live-action division and Disney Animation and Pixar studios. 20th Century Fox and Searchlight would be added to that list after Disney’s absorption of the previously owned Rupert Murdoch companies.
Horn’s nine-year track record saw Disney expand its productions beyond the big screen to streaming. All in, during his reign, Disney set several box office records clicking past $7 billion in 2016 and 2018 and $11 billion in 2019, the only motion picture studio to hit such levels. Twenty movies at Disney surpassed the billion-dollar mark globally, a dozen of which are in the top 20 and five of which are in the top 10 worldwide releases of all time. That includes the biggest domestic release of all time in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the second biggest global release of all time in Avengers: Endgame, as well as the biggest animated releases of all time both domestically and globally in Incredibles 2 and Frozen 2, respectively.
Back in December, Alan Bergman was named Disney Studios Content chairman after co-running the division with Horn as a co-chairman since May 2019, as the media conglom made a commitment to spend $14 billion to $16 billion over the next four years. Horn remained on as CCO at the time, shedding some of his duties to zero on the studio’s creative pipeline.
Horn, similar to former NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Ron Meyer, is renowned for his relationships with filmmaking talent and smoothing out feature productions. He is known for his gracious and astute approach to film production situations. He was unceremoniously cut loose from Warner Bros as President and Chief Operating Officer in 2011 after a 12-year run with that Burbank, CA studio, after such hits as the Harry Potter franchise during his tenure.
Following Horn’s arrival at Disney in 2012, he brought stability to the studio after the Rich Ross era of flops, i.e. ,the $300M+ production John Carter and the costly Mars Needs Mom. Horn came to Disney at a time when its acquisitions of platinum brands such as Marvel and Lucasfilm were added to its portfolio alongside its vibrant live-action division and Disney Animation and Pixar studios. 20th Century Fox and Searchlight would be added to that list after Disney’s absorption of the previously owned Rupert Murdoch companies.
Horn’s nine-year track record saw Disney expand its productions beyond the big screen to streaming. All in, during his reign, Disney set several box office records clicking past $7 billion in 2016 and 2018 and $11 billion in 2019, the only motion picture studio to hit such levels. Twenty movies at Disney surpassed the billion-dollar mark globally, a dozen of which are in the top 20 and five of which are in the top 10 worldwide releases of all time. That includes the biggest domestic release of all time in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the second biggest global release of all time in Avengers: Endgame, as well as the biggest animated releases of all time both domestically and globally in Incredibles 2 and Frozen 2, respectively.
Alan Bergman will now become the sole head of the Studios. Bergman's background with Disney is....interesting, with his background being more in the financials of the studio. While that might be good for Wall Street, it doesn't exactly translate to nabbing film talent(which Disney needs after the ScarJo Suit). Disney is planning to retain their current "studios in a studio" approach.
Because of how film production schedules work, any change in quality or content will likely be gradual. By the time Horn retires, he will have overseen productions with release dates into 2023.
Horn is the 3rd major executive to leave with Iger. He joins Zenia Mucha and Alan Braverman in the upcoming joint exit.
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