Disney has extended the contract of studio chief Alan Horn into 2018, the studio said Thursday. Horn, the former head of Warner Bros., joined Disney as chairman of Walt Disney Studios in 2012.
He oversees the production, distribution and marketing for all movies produced by Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, as well as marketing and distribution for movies produced by DreamWorks and Touchstone Pictures.
The extension ensures Horn will oversee Disney’s launch of new “Star Wars” movies, the first of which is scheduled to open in late 2015. The conglomerate acquired Lucasfilm in October of 2012 for $4 billion.
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Horn manages a tricky constellation of companies and egos, given the success of subsidiaries like Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm, all of which have their own leaders. Disney’s music and theater divisions also fall under his purview.
The studio has had a couple of stellar years since Horn took over, as Marvel supplied ‘The Avengers,” “Captain America,” “Thor” and “Iron Man” and Pixar continued to produce box office hits like “Monsters University.” Disney’s own animation studio has begun to rival its own in-house sibling, producing “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Frozen.”
Its few misses, “The Lone Ranger” and “Need for Speed” being two examples, have come from Disney’s own studio and DreamWorks.
Disney has already grossed more than $1 billion at the international box office and more than $500 million at the domestic box office this year. Upcoming releases include “Million Dollar Arm,” “Maleficent,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Into the Woods.”