For the past three days, the story that’s been dominating entertainment news is Rich Ross’ removal as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios.
Now most of these articles seem to lay the blame for Ross’ exit on “John Carter” ‘s box office. And while it’s true that this Andrew Stanton film did play a role in Rich being shown the door last week, that movie’s lackluster ticket sales weren’t quite as big a factor in this decision as you might think.
Why For? Because Walt Disney Studios rarely — if ever — loses money on a movie. Mind you, thanks to the vagaries of Hollywood book-keeping, it can sometimes take decades for a particular project to recoup. “Fantasia” didn’t actually get out of the red ’til 1961, more than 20 years after that animated masterpiece was first released to theaters. Likewise “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” — Walt Disney Studio’s first big budget, live action adventure — didn’t officially turn a profit ’til its second theatrical re-release in the early 1970s.
So to now have people pointing at “John Carter” ‘s underwhelming ticket sales as the sole reason that Disney CEO Bob Iger asked Ross to suddenly exit the Company is just silly. I mean, if that were really the case, then why didn’t Bob just fire Rich last Spring after “Mars Needs Moms” crashed and burned?
No, the truth here is a bit more complicated than that. Especially when you take into consideration that — in a lot of ways — Ross had been Iger’s designated hatchet man. Beginning in the Fall of 2009 (right after he took over for Dick Cook, the previous head of Walt Disney Studios), Rich made all sorts of staff cuts. He totally revamped the ways that the various departments at the Mouse interacted with one another.
And it wasn’t Rich Ross that dreamed up this reorg. But — rather — Bob Iger. Who wanted Disney Studios to become a far more efficient, streamlined operation with a significantly lowered head count. And because Ross wanted to please his boss, Rich did exactly what Bob asked of him. And that included last Fall’s very public fight with Jerry Bruckheimer & Gore Verbinski over “The Lone Ranger” ‘s then-proposed budget of $270 million.
Did Ross make a few mis-steps along the way? Absolutely. Company insiders have suggested that Rich’s enthusiasm when it came to the celebrity access / premiere party-related aspects of his position as Head of the Studio may have turned off more than a few at the Mouse House. But folks who worked with Ross at the Disney Channel will tell you that he had the same exact problem when Rich was in charge of the cable side of the Company. That this was a guy who just got too excited whenever he got a chance to hang out with the talent.
But in the big scheme of things in Hollywood, these are relatively small offenses on Ross’ part. Which was why — as recently as February — the plan was that Rich would be allowed to finish up his three year contract as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios. And then come October of 2012 … Well, that part of Ross’ deal hadn’t entirely been worked out yet. Though I had heard that Disney had reportedly offered Rich his own production company which was to have been based out of the old Feature Animation Building. Where he would have then had the chance to develop films & TV movies for Walt Disney Pictures, the Disney Channel and ABC Family respectively.
But that deal now seems to be off the table. Thanks — in large part — to something that Ross (or — rather — Rich’s staff) supposedly did during the lead-up to the March 9th release of “John Carter.”
“And what was that exactly?,” you ask. Well, how many of you read Brooks Barnes‘ March 12th story in the New York Times, ” ‘Ishtar’ Lands on Mars” ? If you haven’t yet read this piece, let me direct your attention to two key paragraphs in this article:
In recent weeks, as a weak marketing campaign failed to generate audience excitement for “John Carter,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, made it clear in conversations with senior managers that he would not tolerate finger-pointing; this may be a colossal miss, he told them, according to people who were present, but it’s the company’s miss and no individuals would be blamed – including Mr. Stanton. Learn from it, was Mr. Iger’s message.
On Sunday (March 11th), Rich Ross, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, said in a statement, “Moviemaking does not come without risk. It’s still an art, not a science, and there is no proven formula for success. Andrew Stanton is an incredibly talented and successful filmmaker who with his team put their hard work and vision into the making of ‘John Carter.’ Unfortunately, it failed to connect with audiences as much as we had all hoped.”
Reading between the lines here, Bob Iger was trying to help John Lasseter’s very good friend Andrew Stanton save face. So Stanton’s initial attempt at making a live-action feature film had misfired. Big deal. The Walt Disney Company still considered Stanton to be a very valuable creative asset. Which — given that the two animated features that Andrew had directed for Pixar Animation Studios, 2003’s “Finding Nemo” and 2008’s “WALL-E” had a combined worldwide box office total of $1.388 billion (Not to mention the hundreds of million of dollars more that the Company has made off of plush, toys, ice shows and theme park attractions with direct ties to these Pixar characters) — was perfectly understandable.
Which was why the Company was doing everything within its power to spare Stanton any unnecessary embarrassment. With the hope that Andrew would then stay put, rather than suddenly decamp from Pixar and then go start making animated features for Disney’s direct competition (i.e. DreamWorks Animation, Blue Sky Studios & Sony Pictures Animation).
And Ross — with his own statement to the New York Times — seemed to be backing up his boss. But just one day after Brooke Barnes’ story ran in the Times, Claude Brodesser-Akners’ column was posted on Vulture. Which flat-out stated that …
… it was in fact “John Carter” director Andrew Stanton – powerful enough from his Pixar hits that he could demand creative control over trailers – who commandeered the early campaign (for this Walt Disney Pictures release), overriding the Disney marketing execs who begged him to go in a different direction.
“This is one of the worst marketing campaigns in the history of movies,” a former studio marketing chief told Vulture before the film opened. “It’s almost as if they went out of their way to not make us care.”
According to what I’ve been told, an internal investigation at Walt Disney Studios in the wake of this online article revealed that it had reportedly been a member of Ross’ own staff who had provided Brodesser-Akners with the info that he needed in order to write this particular “Vulture” piece.
Well, Rich’s loyal staffers may have been looking to distance their boss from “John Carter” disappointing box office number. But Bob Iger and his team on the sixth floor of the Team Disney – Burbank Building – supposedly saw this situation entirely differently. They felt that Ross placing his own need to protect & preserve his professional reputation ahead of the Company’s needs, potentially damaging the Studio’s working relationship with Pixar senior management was an extremely poor choice. Which is why a decision was made at that time to speed exit Rich’s exit from The Walt Disney Company.
Of course, the irony of this whole situation was that it wasn’t Ross who’d put “The Inside Story of How John Carter Was Doomed by Its First Trailer” item out there. But — rather — his loyal staffers. Who just wanted to make sure that their boss looked good.
Which — when you think about it — was just what Rich Ross was looking to do when, at Bob Iger’s behest, he oversaw that massive overhaul of Walt Disney Studios back in late 2009 / early 2010. Because Ross wanted his boss to look good too.
And why is it so important that Bob Iger look good? Let’s remember that — back in October of last year — Disney’s CEO announced that he would be stepping down in the not-so-distant future. To be specific, in March of 2015, the Company’s board of directors will name a new chief and Mr. Iger will then become Disney’s executive chairman. As of June 30, 2016, Bob will leave Disney entirely and — if the rumors are true — pursue some sort of political office back in New York State.
And when you’re running for political office … Well, it helps to be able to point to how you reinvented a great American institution like The Walt Disney Company, making it better suited to do business in today’s world. Making it far easier for the Mouse to leverage its content across multiple platforms and use new distribution channels to reach yet-untapped international markets.
And speaking of international markets … It’s worth noting here that “John Carter” has been selling far more tickets overseas than it has stateside. To date, this Andrew Stanton film has grossed $200.6 million foreign versus $68.8 million domestic.
Which — when you compare those numbers to what “Mars Needs Moms” earned last year (i.e. That $150 million Walt Disney Pictures / ImageMovers Digital production earned $21.3 million domestic and $17.6 million foreign, for a total worldwide gross just $38.9 million) — “John Carter” suddenly looks far less like a box office disaster than many in the entertainment press would have you believe.
So — just to recap here — while “John Carter” did play a role in Rich Ross’ exit from the Mouse House, it wasn’t that movie’s grosses or marketing that did the Chairman of Walt Disney Studios in. Not entirely, anyway.
Because — when you get right down to it — this isn’t really a story about Rich Ross’ exit. But — rather — one about making sure that Andrew Stanton stays right where he is right now. Working for Disney and Pixar.
Your thoughts?