Lucas Jackson/ReutersAlan F. Horn, the new chairman of Walt Disney Studios.LOS ANGELES – Alan F. Horn, a former movie chief at Warner Brothers who was responsible for guiding that studio’s highly profitable “Harry Potter” franchise, was named chairman of Disney’s movie studio on Thursday.
Mr. Horn’s responsibilities at Walt Disney Studios will extend to the Marvel, Pixar and DreamWorks Studios brands; the job also includes oversight of Disney’s music label and Broadway division.
“Alan not only has an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience in the business, he has a true appreciation of movie making as both an art and a business,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.
Mr. Horn reluctantly left Warner Brothers last year, indelicately squeezed out to make room for a new generation of managers. While running Warner’s movie operation, he drafted the blueprint for an operating strategy that has been adopted by virtually every major studio: focus on effects-filled event pictures, or “tent poles,” that resonate overseas.
Along with his careful steering of the “Harry Potter” franchise, Mr. Horn’s hits include “The Perfect Storm,” “300,” “The Departed,” “Happy Feet,” “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Sherlock Holmes” and “The Dark Knight.”
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Disney’s last movie chairman, Rich Ross, was fired in March after less than three years on the job. Mr. Ross, whose experience was entirely in television, never found his footing among the megawatt film personalities in Disney’s stable.
Indeed, Mr. Horn will need to play air traffic controller to some of the biggest egos in Hollywood, coordinating movie release dates and marketing for directors and producers like Joe Roth, Steven Spielberg and Jerry Bruckheimer. Mr. Horn must also tend to Ike Perlmutter, the chief executive of Disney-owned Marvel, whose “Avengers” recently took in over $1.3 billion worldwide.
And don’t forget about stroking the superpowers at Pixar.
Mr. Horn, who played a role in the hit TV series “Seinfeld” earlier in his career, must also work to convince the broader Hollywood community of writers, agents and directors that Disney is a hospitable home for their movie projects. There is a strong belief in the industry – fair or not – that Disney is only interested in lumbering franchise films like “Pirates of the Caribbean” that can sell toys and power theme-park rides, a philosophy that tends to irk the film industry’s creative elite.
Disney’s movie pipeline is quite dry. This year, Disney will release only two live-action films under its flagship banner. One was “John Carter,” a sci-fi epic that forced Disney to take a $200 million write down. The other is “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” a drama that arrives in August about a boy who is part plant. The Disney live-action banner is set up to make up to six films annually.
Putting more movies into production for Disney’s live-action banner is easier said than done. Part of the challenge is conceptual: picking films bolstered by the Disney brand (“Pirates of the Caribbean”) and not challenged by it (“Tron: Legacy”).
Mr. Horn is likely to make staffing changes, but is not expected to change the studio’s operating strategy, or size. Acting on instructions from Mr. Iger, Mr. Ross spent much of his first year making cuts and reorganizing the studio to better service its four movie brands: Disney, Pixar, Marvel and, via a distribution arrangement, Mr. Spielberg’s DreamWorks.
Each of those labels has major movies on the horizon. Disney’s live-action films include a “Wizard of Oz” prequel called “Oz: The Great and Powerful” and a costly remake of “The Lone Ranger” starring Johnny Depp as Tonto. Pixar will unveil its first film with a female protagonist, “Brave,” on June 21 and is working on a prequel to “Monsters, Inc.” Marvel has “Iron Man 3” and “Thor 2” on the way.
And DreamWorks in December will unveil “Lincoln,” Mr. Spielberg’s take on the Civil War; it will almost assuredly come attached with an Oscar campaign.
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