On Friday, moviegoers will get their first chance to see a Rich Ross film in theaters.
“Prom,” about a group of teenagers getting ready for you-know-what, is precisely the type of project you’d expect from a former head of the Disney Channel: Budgeted around $10 million, it’s inexpensive, wholesome and features telegenic young stars.
Also read: Rich Ross and the High-Stakes Gamble at Disney
When Disney chairman Robert Iger installed Ross as top movie boss a year and a half ago he made his mandate clear: Ross was expected to work well with all divisions of the company, and maximize its growing number of brands. This is something that Iger felt that Ross’s predecessor, the avuncular Dick Cook, failed to adequately do.
In discussions with TheWrap, analysts and former and current studio executives painted a picture of a radically different corporate environment under Ross than Cook. They say Ross’s Disney is more decentralized, more synergy focused, more profit driven.
It is also more profitable.
According to one film executive with knowledge of the company, Ross and his team are less effusive and more difficult to read than Cook, and that has led to some friction both within the company and among its constellation of sub-brands. There are also questions about what it means to be a Disney movie with so many brands under one roof.
This year, the company will release 13 movies, more than half of them DreamWorks and Pixar titles. The company will also receive revenue from two Marvel releases, “Thor” and “Captain America,” which Paramount is releasing.
To make sure that all properties are maximized, Ross insists that Disney executives and regular workers know what’s going on throughout the company.
Just last week, for instance, Sam Raimi, who’s directing the upcoming “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” visited the studio for a meeting with 200 Disney employees from a range of departments, including music, consumer products and media networks.
The director presented early concepts for the movie for various business lines. The message was clear: It’s Raimi’s movie, but Disney’s product.
And that more bottom-lined oriented approach may just be smart business for a corporate juggernaut like Disney.
“Rich brings a financial accountability mindset which is more prevalent in the television business, which is his background,” Laura Martin, an analyst at Needham and Company, told TheWrap. “It’s not just about return on capital, it’s now been re-framed, so if they make a live action film it has to be applicable to other profit centers in the company.”
Disney is trying to further expand its reach, looking at projects that don’t on the surface fit the Disney image by attracting directors such as David Fincher for “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo” and Guillermo Del Toro for “Haunted Mansion.”
Sean Bailey, president of production, acknowledges that Disney is partnering with talent that is outside its comfort zone.
