Monday Mouse Watch: Will Dick Cook’s exit trip up “Pirates 4” as well as the Muppets’ big-screen return?

Jim Hill

15 years ago

As I sat in the Arena at the Anaheim Convention Center
earlier this month, watching the Walt Disney Studios presentation at the D23
EXPO, I remember thinking that no one but Dick Cook could pull off a show like
this.

Kelly Preston, Ella Bleu
Travolta, John Travolta and Disney’s Dick Cook at Walt Disney Pictures
Presentation at Disney’s D23 Expo on September 11, 2009 at the Anaheim
Convention Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Le
Studio/Wireimage) Copyright 2009 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I mean, who else but the Chairman of Walt Disney Studios –
renown for being one of the best-connected, well-liked people in the business –
could persuade John Travolta & Kelly Preston to come make their first public
appearance since the death of their son, Jett? Or – for that matter – get Johnny
Depp all dolled up in his Capt. Jack gear to come promote Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel , “On Stranger
Tides.”

But that said, as the crowd gave Dick & Johnny a
standing ovation as they exited the Arena arm-in-arm (allegedly in search of
rum) … I couldn’t help but think about something else that I’d recently heard
about Cook. That there were those at the Studios who were openly gunning for
the Chairman.

Mind you, this was back in June, while I was attending the Licensing
International Expo in Las Vegas. And from what I was told then, it appeared
that Dick’s job was safe. For a while, anyway. You see, as a Disney insider
explained it to me then:

“Management knows that there’s no way that Depp will ever agree
to do another ‘Pirates’ picture unless Cook is still in power. Johnny has no
loyalty to the Walt Disney Company. It’s his personal relationship with Dick
that will get that picture made.”

So one has to wonder about the timing of all this: A week
after Depp stands on stage at the D23 EXPO and basically tells the world that
he’ll soon be starring in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” Cook suddenly walks the plank. Doesn’t that seem a trifle co-incidental to you?

Well, if Mouse House officials thought that – after his appearance
in the Arena at the Anaheim Convention Center — they had Johnny all sewn up to
reprise his role as Sparrow, they were in for a rude awakening.

In a phone interview that Depp did with the Los Angeles
Times last Friday, this Academy Award-nominee flat-out admitted that his zeal
for appearing in “On Stranger Tides” had now waned. That – on the heels of Dick’s
resignation — “… there’s a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the
moment” in regards to appearing in a fourth “Pirates” picture.

And then when you factor in that Johnny allegedly hasn’t yet
officially signed a contract to appear in “On Stranger Tides,” that he and Dick
reportedly had a handshake deal that would hinge on how well the screenplay for
this proposed “Pirates” sequel turned out … Well, one wonders if we’re actually
going to see a fourth “POTC” picture now. That Depp – in an effort to get back
at those who had helped speed along Cook’s exit – might now opt out of the project. Leaving
the Studio without a tentpole for the Summer of 2011.

To be fair, there are those at the Mouse House who insist
that – in spite of the fact that Cook was one of the best-liked execs in the
business – it was still time for Dick to
go. That — given how poorly the Studios’ non-Pixar product had been performing
at the box office lately — it was clear that Cook’s taste in projects was out
of sync with what the public wanted to see at the multiplexes these days.

And given that under-performing pictures like “Confessions
of a Shopaholic” were having a disastrous effect on the Company’s earnings as they moved through their pay TV & DVD
sales phases … It was felt that it was in the shareholders’ best interest if a change
was made at the top at the Studios.

Of course, now the question is what becomes of all those projects
that Cook had personally been shepherding through the development process. In
particular that much anticipated production that’s supposed to be the Muppets’
return to the big screen, “The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made.” Which will
reportedly be shot early next year and then be released theatrically sometime in
the Fall of 2010.

Mind you, Dick’s exit should have no impact on this
production. With the accent in that last sentence being placed on the word “should.”
But let’s remember what happened when Michael Eisner announced in March of 2005
that he was stepping down as the head of The Walt Disney Company in September of
the following year. Chris Curtin –the then-Vice President and General Manager
of the Muppet Holding Company (who, prior to his new gig, had long been Michael’s
assistant) – lost a lot of his political capital on the heels of Eisner’s
announcement. It soon became impossible for Curtin to get various divisions at
Disney to get behind Miss Piggy and pals because … Well, mostly because the
Muppets’ biggest patron (i.e. Eisner) would soon be out of power. And just in
case the new head of the Mouse House wasn’t a Kermit the Frog fan, many execs
now opted to take a wait-and-see approach in regards to the Muppets.

Which bring us now to Lylle Breier, a longtime loyal
lieutenant of Dick Cook who’s now the senior vice president & general
manager of Special Events & the Muppets. In theory, Cook’s exit from the
Company shouldn’t have any impact on “The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made.” But
given that Lylle has been able to accomplish so much with these characters over
the past year because people at the Studios knew that Dick was in her corner …
One has to wonder what’s going to happen now. Especially on the heels of last
week’s story in Variety that said that development was actually slowing down at
Walt Disney Studios.

Will the new head of Walt Disney Studios keep all of the
productions that Cook already had in the works perking along? Given all of the cutbacks & downsizing that’s been going on in the entertainment industry over the past year, that hardly seems likely. For that matter, who
might Bob Iger pick to be Dick’s successor? Back in June, I remember hearing
that Oren Aviv, the president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production,
was a possible candidate to replace Cook. But that was three months ago. Who
knows who Iger might be considering now?

Disney’s Oren Aviv and
Director Robert Zemeckis at Walt Disney Pictures Presentationat Disney’s D23
Expo on September 11, 2009 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim,
California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau /Le Studio/Wireimage) Copyright 2009 Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In closing, I’d just like to say that – for years now – all I’ve
ever heard about Dick Cook is what a nice guy he is. But given that – in show
business – nice guys finish last, I guess it’s a tribute to Cook’s survival skills
that he lasted as long as he did as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios.

Wherever this well-liked executive lands, I’m sure that many
of Hollywood’s top talents will soon be seeking him out. As Johnny Depp said in
last Friday’s interview with the LA Times:

“(Dick)’s instantly trustworthy. And you generally
don’t meet people at the studios you trust. He will be somewhere and I will
always look forward to working with him.”

Disney’s Dick Cook
at Walt Disney Pictures Presentation at Disney’s D23 Expo on September 11, 2009
at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Le
Studio/Wireimage) Copyright 2009 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Which is a pretty strong incentive, all by itself, for some other studio to
quickly come along and scoop Mr. Cook up, don’t you think?

Your thoughts?