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UPDATES Does Rich Ross Fit Disney Studios' Glass Slipper?
UPDATES EXCLUSIVE! Dick Cook Fired From Disney
And I love the little hints. Like how there's been a huge push to update all things Rich Ross at the Mouse House in recent days -- documents, press bios, photos. Mickey's minions are frantically searching Google trying to find anything about him on Disney-owned domains, and then finding out whom to contact in order to update it. "In my 20+ years, I've only seen this flurry of activity happen when something big is on the horizon, e.g. Katzenberg's canning, Eisner's unceremonious exit, and, more recently, Steve McPherson's takeover of ABC Studios, and the Marvel deal," one of my insiders tells me.
I told you guys back on September 23rd that Bob Iger was telling Hollywood he'd already chosen axed Dick Cook's replacement And that my souces were saying Rich Ross, the Disney Channels Worldwide president, was being fitted with the glass slipper (with or without Dick's lofty title of Walt Disney Studios chief). It took a bit of time for the dust to settle and to get over the shock, but Hollywood has now accepted this guy into the movie biz even though he manages the global kids' TV business -- a total of 94 kid-driven, family-inclusive entertainment channels and feeds available in 163 countries and 32 languages. That includes Disney, whose culture is so infamously cult-like and cut-throat that the Mouse House mostly promotes from within because its insiders distrust outsiders. Now even longtime Disney Studios folk consider Ross not just the inevitable guy, but maybe even the right guy. (Read my past stories for more detail about Ross.)
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I knew it wasn’t a coincidence seeing them together at that event, with no other senior Disney/ABC execs in sight…
Okay commenters, rip his throat out.
Phewww… for a minute there I thought the name read Rick Ross, not Rich Ross.
What happens to Oren?
Ross is the right guy for an emphasis on girl princess fantasies. He’s done well with that. He’s failed with Disney XD, all the audience growth in that male-oriented boy’s channel has been girls.
Does Ross have the “instinct” to know when material is not right, won’t work, and will simply alienate boys from Marvel and male oriented entertainment? His track record says no. His background (he is openly gay) prevents him from understanding boy’s desires (generally oriented around competing with other boys for just a few girls) and he’s a poor fit to supervise Marvel assuming that deal goes through. The Jonas Brothers are not say, Captain America.
That’s OK. Disney can do fine without boys, and make Marvel a “Disney Princess” loss of value (the characters worth appreciably less because they end up like the Jonas Brothers or what have you) and still come out OK in the pop princess area. But that is all Disney will ever be, and is a recipe for slowly, ever declining revenues ala GM and Chrysler. It’s not bold.
But Disney may only have Ross (who is certainly able) and no one else even close in management skills. Which is a stunning indictment of Disney’s corporate culture and failure to promote winning managers.
Because Rich Ross is openly gay, he’ll fail with the boy’s market and Marvel?
Obama is openly black, and he became president. He didn’t fail with the white voters.
“Does Ross have the “instinct” to know when material is not right, won’t work, and will simply alienate boys from Marvel and male oriented entertainment? His track record says no. His background (he is openly gay) prevents him from understanding boy’s desires (generally oriented around competing with other boys for just a few girls) ”
Are you kidding me? Aside from the ridiculously backward attitude your note shows, are young boy’s desires really that hard to fathom?
I worked at Disney Channel for 3+ yrs (not on the creative side), and was always impressed with the way Ross ran his meetings, and with the effort he put (whether it was corp mandated or not) into making sure the cast of the DC shows and movies were ethnically diverse, without it having to always be some big plot point. I wonder if he’ll take any of his DC creative execs with him to the feature side?
Whiskey has a homophobic axe to grind… he/she posted the same baseless nonsense in an earlier story.
In the post Walt era, Disney has always had a challenge appealing to boys, no matter who’s in charge… hence the fact that “Disney”, “Disnefy”, “Disnification”, and sadly, “Mickey Mouse” have all become vernacular for “soft”. The studio lost its sense of adventure, a trend that it had begun to reverse, not through the efforts of Dick Cook, but rather because Nina Jacobson and Brigham Taylor championed risky projects like “Pirates” (and then, to his credit, Dick backed them up).
What many people may not realize is that DC was always very hands off in the development process… the slates are essentially put together by the Motion Picture Group President…
Which is why one should expect to see at least one other headcount change after Ross gets the gig.
**Because Rich Ross is openly gay, he’ll fail with the boy’s market and Marvel?
Obama is openly black, and he became president. He didn’t fail with the white voters.**
According to recent poll numbers, right now he’s failing with all sorts of people.
Let’s get realistic here – instead of politically correct. I think Ross is a terrible choice for exactly the reasons Whiskey stated. Plus – let’s be frank – an openly gay man running the studio created by Uncle Walt is hardly in sync with the values of the Disney company’s core audience – middle American conservative/traditionalist families. Which begs the question: just what the hell DOES Disney stand for anymore? The values of Walt are being tossed aside for the usual corporate greed and, with the recent purchases of non-Disney characters such as the Muppets and Marvel, the company is becoming less and less recognizable and less distinct from all the other entertainment companies out there. Disney is Dreamworks is Universal is 20th Century Fox. No wonder the recent D23 convention was sparsely attended. If you’re a Walt Disney fan, the company that bears his name has very little appeal for you anymore.
As they say, “It’s not creative unless it sells”.
He might have missed with Disney XD, but he’s created an old-school (studio) star system that’s second to none, creatively or financially. He’s the guy.
“…let’s be frank – an openly gay man running the studio created by Uncle Walt is hardly in sync with the values of the Disney company’s core audience – middle American conservative/traditionalist families.”
What are you smoking James R. Jones? Rich has been president of Disney CHANNEL for years and the conservative/traditionalist families have only flocked to the network in increasingly greater numbers. I’m from Oklahoma and cannot visit my hometown Wal-Mart without seeing High School Musical, Hannah Montana, Camp Rock, Jonas Brothers, or Wizards stuff in literally every section from electronics to dairy products. Or visit my conservative/traditionalist cousins without being asked to watch play high school music karaokee or check out their new Hannah Montana backpack.
All but the most extreme “Conservative/traditionalist” families have given up caring about petty things like an executive’s sexual orientation, and generally care far more about CONTENT. Rich has obviously delivered exactly what the conservative/traditionalist makret wants in this regard, with his multi-BILLION dollar HSM and Hannah Montana franchises.
As for your question “just what the hell DOES Disney stand for anymore?” Since Rich has been at Disney CHANNEL, it’s stood for race and gender equality, teamwork and cooperation, and teaching kids to believe in themselves and follow their dreams, all in a family friendly presentation. In addition to making quality programming of actual social value to today’s youth, Rich managed to simultaneously turn the network into a virtual money printing machine with super low production costs and INSANE ancillary franchise revenues. In other words, he made quality content that parents approved of and kids went crazy for, all while making big piles of money for the Mouse. I’d say that’s EXACTLY the type of leadership Disney needs right now.
So, James R. Jones, if you disagree simply because the man is gay then I suggest you watch High School Musical. It might teach you a thing or two about breaking down stereotypes. If that doesn’t do the trick, then you can just suck it.
So there.