Experiment's End...

Sorry, but we have something else in mind...



In case you didn't see it, Rich Ross has resigned as head of Walt Disney Pictures...

“I believe in our strong slate of films and our ability to make and market them better than anyone else, but, I no longer believe the chairman role is the right professional fit for me. For that reason, I have made the very difficult decision to step down as Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, effective today.”

After less than two and a half years in the role, Ross has stepped down from his position. Word is that Iger has been less than happy with the way the film division has been run and has been negotiating an exit with Ross for the past month.

Even though the slate of box office disappointments weren't green lit by Ross, his management of those films and lack of a strong development slate may have played a factor in his decision to resign.

No replacement has been made, but insiders believe the most likely candidates Iger would want to take the position are someone like Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige or DreamWorks Studios' Stacey Snider. Sean Bailey will stay on as president of production, but new management tends to appoint their own people, so his future is not guaranteed. I like Bailey actually. If none of the other candidates take the position I hope that Iger will offer the division to him. He's a smart producer that knows the inner workings of Hollywood, and has far more film experience than Ross did.

Developing...

One Sheet For Pooh...

Oh bother...










A teaser poster for WDAS's "Winnie the Pooh" is out...

Minimalist, ain't it? Not bad since there is no reason to show much being as almost everyone knows who the silly ole' bear is. Enjoy this hand-drawn creation when it comes out this summer. It'll be the last film from Disney Animation till 2013 and probably the last hand-drawn till 2014/15.

Next year will be a lull in production as the Mouse switches gears into a different direction and adjusts from a lack of development projects. Don't worry, it now has several films that are being worked on, but this is the result of a lean period of projects that got put into turn around or were delayed, retooled or outright canceled.

See what happens when development lags? After next year, "Reboot Ralph," "King of the Elves," "Mort," and a couple "Untitled" projects are in the works. But it's amazing where we are compared with Pre-Tangled.

Success has a way of brightening up the road ahead...

Rossovers...

Eating crow, don't ya know...
You know, I must admit that I'm pleasantly surprised at the first year of Rich Ross' tenure at the Mouse...

I mean, it won't be a full year until October and we haven't seen much about what he's greenlit or put in development. Some of what he has done, I've liked. Fincher on 20K reboot? Color me interested. Some of what he's done, not so much. A buddy comedy called "What's He Got?" Color me bored. Some of what he's decided on, I'm nervously liking, but... Remake a disappointment into a Sci-Fi heavy "Black Hole." Again, interested but very unoriginal (of course, that is Tinsel Town right now).

Part of my fears were soothed over when they hired Sean Bailey to be his second in command, and I believe he's been a great balancing act to the new boss. But as you've noticed in the news lately, he's done a few surprising things that I think are very positive for the company and what Hollywood should take note of. He's been very collaborative and open with the various parts of the company (WDAS, Pixar, Marvel, Touchstone, etc.) and it's partners (DreamWorks). Particularly in dealing with the Lamp. He's had them advise on several projects in other parts of the company. Some that you've heard of and some you haven't. Trust me, "Tron Legacy" and the "Muppets" aren't the only ones he's taken an active role in having crossovers of talent from various divisions look at and critique what is being made. With regards to Pixar, he's done something that Dick Cook never did. He's brought him into the closed door meetings that involve the production pipeline and what is being developed. As much as I loved Cook, he would never let John go behind those doors. All of Hollywood respects and envies the running streak that Pixar has. Nothing speaks volumes like success and Ross is showing a surprising amount of understanding when it comes to this.

Now remember, I haven't been his greatest cheerleader, but I had hoped for the best. But the person that gave us "Hannah Montana" didn't exactly give me great hopes that the projects he'd like to see done would be what I have a taste for. He's been very respectful of Walt Disney Animation Studios so far, but also surprisingly honest with some of the projects that they have wanted to put on their slate of development. And he and Lasseter seem from what I hear to have gotten along quite well. It really is refreshing to see him bring in others from Disney North and their associates to gauge how something is doing. It's going to be interesting to see how Jerry Bruckheimer reacts to this new process. For the most part he's had free reign on the lot for projects that he's in charge of, but with the latest box office disappointments ("G-Force," "Prince of Persia," hello), he may find that his choice of projects will become more limited in the coming year.

There are still test ahead and it won't be another year or so before the Ross regime is in full swing, but let me say that I'm cautiously optimistic...

In Betweeners...

Sevens baby! Sevens...


While the Lamp continues to shine, the Mouse continues to try and find its place in this world...

Tomorrow "Toy Story 3" opens up and is guaranteed to be a success. It's almost a given that this third (and last of the theatrical series, at least) film will bring in truckloads of cash for the Disney vaults. And next year, the release of "Cars 2" will most likely catapult past the original's box office take since all those new, young boys have bought all that merchandise over the past few years. Then we have "Monsters Inc. 2," which will be a hit, and the mystery of "Brave" that is Emeryville/Disney North's only enigma. That gives Bob Iger and all the Suits in Burbank another two and a half years before they'll really have to wonder about profits from these films. I know that nothing is for sure, but Pixar is as close to success as anything or anyone in Hollywood.

But what about the Mouse?

By that, I mean Walt Disney Animation Studios. The Big Brother to little Luxo Jr. has been having some struggles of late. While we all screamed in joy at the thought of Pixar becoming part of the Disney family, what we really looked forward to was John Lasseter being in charge of Walt Disney Feature Animation (now, WDAS). We wanted him to take a bit of that Pixar dust and turn it into pixie dust. Give Disney animation some of the amazing success that Pixar has enjoyed over the last decade. And years later, we're still waiting for that to happen.

Not that the films under his tenure in charge haven't been good. They have, much better than what was seen the last decade almost, but they haven't enjoyed the kind of love, financially speaking that Pixar has enjoyed. From the box office catastrophe that putting "Bolt" up against horribly, badly acted, and badly told stories about vampires, to the sadness that audiences didn't embrace hand drawn animation like we had hoped with "The Princess and the Frog."

So what's up inside the Hat Building? How are things holding up? What projects are moving forward and when will we see Disney return to the glory of yesterday. Right? I mean, look at how Disney's former boss, Jeffrey Katzenberg is doing over across town with his new animation company. Not too shabby, I think.

That right there is one of the worrisome things for animators right now at Disney Animation. While they try to get something going and hope for a success, DreamWorks Animation moves steadily ahead with a large and growing slate of projects. Jeffrey's House has crews that are deep in development on multiple stories that will average out to five films every two years. And the Mouse, well, he's struggling to put one a year out and there is a huge scheduling hole that animators hope to fill soon.

So just as a refresher, here are the projects that are ahead for WDAS:

Tangled (2010).
The Further Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (2011).
Reboot Ralph (2013).

Notice that? Another missing hole, just like 2011 used to be when "King of the Elves" occupied that 2012 spot. But when the story didn't work out it was shelved and in it's place was another project that has travelled through animated development hell, "The Snow Queen." But the story wasn't going smoothly on that and suddenly Disney had a "Royalty" problem and it got shelved. Meaning that now, the year without Disney Animation having a film would be in 2012, not 2011. Development was starting to go better for Rich Moore's "Reboot Ralph" reinterpretation of "Joe Jump," but it wouldn't be out till 2013. So this has animators worried that there won't be a project in between to bridge the gap.

There are a handful (literally) of directors working on projects that are in a strong development state, but each are in varying stages of process and none have been greenlit yet, and the animators are frustrated at a lack of enough projects to keep them all working and employed. Many realize with that 2011 empty spot, several of them will be let go in another round of layoffs, and it's not really helping morale right now. Now, this isn't the same as the morale of several years ago where management belittled the talent and respect was as uncommon trait among the bean counters that walked the halls. They (the animators) all truly admire Lasseter and feel that he and Ed Catmull care, and are trying to turn the division around. It's become a much more creative inspired company, but several feel that the marketing division has had too much influence over what gets made. Princesses, fairies, ect. It seems with TPATF and the Disney Fairies series moving into the latter part of its run that the direction has changed somewhat for the better. There are several ideas being pitched, but nothing has gone so far as to keep staff from realizing that a lull in projects means no work. Several are now preparing their portfolios for a trip down to DreamWorks Animation where a few of their friends have already gone, and where the development slate is far stronger and the workload is far more stable.

Of the few Bothans I've talked to, they feel that the line-up that is coming is strong, but there is just not enough in development. Chris Williams' project is still a ways off and John Musker & Ron Clements are working on two ideas for hand-drawn projects but neither have been given the go yet. The lack of a sure fire hit has also weighed heavy on the hearts of animators as well. After working on "Bolt" and "Frog" they were expecting to be back in the big time, but Pixar's success has overshadowed the older brother. Not that they're jealous, but they want to show the world that they can tell great stories too. This isn't a case of sibling rivalry, but a case of animators thinking they haven't yet had the opportunity to show the talents they know they have. They just don't want to have to go across town to DreamWorks to show them.

It seems that it's harder than we thought to take the magic of a Lamp and turn a Mouse into a Prince...

Reruns...

Well, the future of film from the Mouse event is over...

Yawn. Really, yawn.

Not that some of the projects weren't exciting, but nothing, almost nothing I believe was new. I mean we got see a couple scenes, some purty logos, a new Muppet character revealed for that film. No mention of "Jungle Cruise" or "The Lone Ranger." No glitzy stars to show up. No new clip from "Tron Legacy" to salivate your 80's geeky memories. What gives?

Ross really underwhelmed the event if you ask me and since you're reading this I guess you are. I wish the guy well in the job and all, I mean, I don't want to see Walt Disney Pictures tank but... really? Couldn't you have showed something new. An exciting new clip from something. A satellite feed with Johnny Depp dressed as Captain Jack? How about announcing a film you've finally greenlit? No?

Well, the news will just have to trickle out later and sloooooowly I guess. But if I was grading you Mr. Ross, then you'd be getting a C- at best and that's only cause I was giving you some credit for showing some great projects that your predecessor made. Now what are you going to do?

So far, you seem to be twiddling your thumbs and that doesn't get you far or long in Hollywood...

Ross' First Greenlight...

Well, it didn't take long for Rich Ross to greenlight his first project...

It's called "What's He Got" and the answer to that should be "We Don't Know," because not a lot of information about the story hasn't been released.

Ross took over the reigns last week and chose to purchase a comedy from Kevin Bisch which has Josh Duhamel attached to it. Andrew Panay, Brian Sher and Walt Becker are producing. Becker is being eyed to direct the project, but it's not a done deal yet.

The story details are very thin, but it's rumored to be a buddy comedy under the Walt Disney Pictures banner. The Mouse paid a mid to high-six figure for the rights to the script.

The pitch for the script was bought by Kristin Burr and Oren Aviv... you know, he's the genius that was supposed to bring in a whole new slate of films a couple years ago. Those were supposed to do gangbuster business and put the studio at the top of the Hollywood food chain. Uh hum.

Don't know what to think. I'll wait before I form too much of an opinion until we have a slate of projects that are under Ross' belt.

At least it wasn't Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron in a remake of "Sleeping Beauty" set in the wild west...

Class Of 2012...

I just thought it'd be nice to document, that's all...