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Alan Horn is retiring as Disney‘s Chief Creative Officer, and here’s what his exit means for Marvel, Star Wars, and everything else. December 31st will be Horn’s last day at Disney, ending a nine-year-long stint at the entertainment behemoth that saw one of the most successful runs in Disney’s history. Horn’s skill and steady hand complemented former Disney CEO Bob Iger’s bold and clear-sighted vision for the studio in the age of franchise IP and streaming.
Horn came to Disney in 2012 after being abruptly cut loose from Warner Bros., where he’d served as President and Chief Operating Officer for 12 years. His arrival at Disney coincided with their acquisition of Lucasfilm, made just a few years after their purchase of Marvel and its early days of the MCU. His impact was felt immediately, helping to stabilize the studio after the infamously disastrous Rich Ross era that saw a string of costly flops like John Carter and Mars Needs Moms and the underwhelming performance of Tron: Legacy that killed Disney’s hopes to turn it into a viable franchise.
As first Chairman, then Co-Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Alan Horn has had an enormous impact on Disney in the last decade, one that could arguably have been viewed as a make-or-break decade for the studio. Horn’s departure is bound to have reverberations. Here’s what it means for Marvel, Lucasfilm and Star Wars, Pixar and everything else.
Marvel & The MCU
Most give Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige all of the credit for the success and expanded diversity push of Marvel’s movies, but Alan Horn has played a big role there. It’s no secret that Feige did not get along with tight-fisted and ultra-conservative then-CEO of Marvel Entertainment, Ike Perlmutter. Perlmutter was notorious for believing superhero films led by women or people of color would bomb and people would have no interest, continually stymying Feige’s attempts to create a broader and more representative MCU.
Eventually, it got so bad that Feige considered walking, and that’s when Iger moved Feige out from under Perlmutter and instead had him report directly to Alan Horn. That’s when movies like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and more were greenlit, expanding the MCU’s footprint and creative, bold storytelling. With Feige now reporting to Horn, Marvel, like Disney, entered a new era.
That said, Marvel will likely not be impacted much by Horn’s departure. Feige has reported to Horn for the past six years, but Marvel operates quite autonomously from Disney – one of the reasons the Horn-Feige collaboration was so successful was that Horn, unlike Perlmutter, realized that Feige had good instincts and did not need to be micromanaged. Feige has two great longtime producers in Marvel’s Victoria Alonso, recently promoted to President Of Physical, Post Production, VFX And Animation, and Louis D’Esposito, Co-President of Marvel Studios. Marvel also has a really excellent stable of producers and department heads under them, so of all of Disney’s properties, it’s likely that Marvel, and subsequently the MCU, will be the least affected by Horn no longer being there as it has been more or less operating largely independently for years.
Lucasfilm & Star Wars
Lucasfilm is the other major acquired IP with Marvel and, much like Marvel, Lucasfilm’s day-to-day operations and long-term plan likely will not change much. Feige’s Lucasfilm counterpart, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, enjoyed a similarly autonomous and collaborative relationship with Alan Horn in his tenure. It’s important to note that back in December, Alan Berman was promoted from Co-Chairman with Horn to full Content Chairman of Disney Studios in preparation for Horn’s departure and he has also worked closely with Kennedy (and Feige) for years. For now, Kennedy and the other creative heads will continue to report to Bergman as they did with Horn. With him having already been working with Kennedy and Lucasfilm alongside Horn, it’s unlikely that much will change there.
However, something that could impact Lucasfilm greatly is that Kathleen Kennedy’s contract is set to expire at the end of this month. Despite the hyperbolic criticism that has come from some corners of the internet, Kennedy’s tenure at Lucasfilm has been an incredibly successful one, with far more hits than misses. Still, her time as president has not been without tumult, which wouldn’t be odd compared to most other studios, but Marvel Studios’ remarkably drama-free nature only magnified Lucasfilm’s missteps with the sequel trilogy. With Horn not fully leaving until the end of December, now would be the time for Kennedy to retire or for Disney to choose not to renew her contract as it would give the company a few months for any successor to get up and running. Considering there were a slew of unconfirmed reports in August that Disney had no plans to move Kathleen Kennedy on from Star Wars and Lucasfilm and that they intended to renew her contract, however, it appears she’ll be staying put.
Pixar, Walt Disney Animation, Disney+ & Everything Else
Of course, Marvel and Lucasfilm aren’t the only divisions that exist under the Walt Disney Studios umbrella. Alan Horn also oversaw the creative pipeline from studios like Pixar, Walt Disney Animation, 2oth Century Studios, and Disney itself. But the truth is that the hardest part is over, at least for a while. Horn guided Disney Studios through the rough waters of its greatest transition period.
When Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, Pixar’s John Lasseter was named the CCO overseeing both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation. However, allegations of sexual misconduct against John Lasseter in 2017 saw the start of a rough period for Pixar, as well as Disney. Disney parted ways with Lasseter in June 2018 and Iger and Horn wisely replaced him with Pete Docter and Jennifer Lee as the chief creative officers of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation, respectively. Docter’s time in the role has seen the widely-respected Pixar try daring new stories, and Lee has helped turn Walt Disney Animation into a legitimate animation powerhouse. They’ve both been in their roles long enough that Horn can step away without fear of things going sideways.
Likewise, Disney’s own live-action department is clicking along. Under Horn, Disney ventured into its current era of live-action remakes of its classic animated movies and live-action spinoffs focusing on some of Disney’s most iconic villains. Disney’s live-action remakes have been released to mixed results critically, with many accusing them of being creatively bankrupt cash crabs. There’s no denying they’ve been wildly commercially successful, however, thanks to Horn’s steady guidance, and the villain-centric movies have been genuinely different from Disney’s usual offerings. Thanks to Alan Horn’s incredibly transformative era with Disney, the Walt Disney Studios and all its creative divisions are set up for continuing success in 2021 and beyond.
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