MT Carney will be exiting The Walt Disney Studio after two years of unstable leadership as the president of marketing, TheWrap has learned.
TheWrap reported exclusively in late November that the studio had courted two senior marketing executives at rival studios.
Disney would not comment for that story, and would not comment on insiders confirming on Sunday that Carney had effectively left the studio.
Carney has not been in her Burbank office for several weeks, and has told friends that her children have been struggling with her absence from New York, where she maintains her home.
Read also: Disney Seeks to Replace Marketing Chief MT Carney (Exclusive)
The New York Times wrote a takedown of the marketing executive on Sunday, which led inside sources to confirm that Carney was gone.
It led with an embarrassing anecdote about the executive showing up on a rural set in fancy white pants, then went on to note that the studio has concluded she would never adapt to Hollywood ways.
In late November, TheWrap reported that Disney aggressively courted Sony’s chief of marketing Marc Weinstock for the position, and sounded out Josh Greenstein, a senior marketing executive at Paramount, for the post as well. Both turned it down, sources told TheWrap.
Carney, a likeable media executive of Scottish origin, has faced a decidedly rocky path since leaving her New York City-based media planning and strategy firm Naked Communications, and joining Disney in April 2010.
Studio chief Rich Ross chose Carney, who at the time he praised as a “unique type of marketing executive,” because she brought a perspective from outside the industry. But Carney has struggled as an outsider with no movie marketing experience in Hollywood’s clubby community.
The weak opening of movies like “Secretariat,” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Prince of Persia” did not help her find supporters in 2010. Nor did flops like “Mars Needs Moms,” which took in a disastrous $21 million, and “Prom,” with only $10 million at the box office.
"The Muppets" was a bright spot, but by the time it opened, the writing was apparently on the wall for Carney.
