Alan Horn, president of Walt Disney Studios, resigns and remains creative director

Alan Bergman (L) and Alan Horn are attending the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 5, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California.

Alberto E. Rodriguez | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Disney veteran Alan Horn is stepping down as co-chair of Walt Disney Studios, the company announced Monday.

Horn will continue to work as Disney’s creative director, while his partner, Alan Bergman, will lead the content of the Disney studio as the sole president, starting January 1st.

These executive changes come less than two months after Disney announced it is restructuring its media and entertainment divisions to focus more on streaming content.

Horn, 77, and Bergman, 54, co-led the Disney studio group as co-chairs since May 2019. Together, the couple presided over the integration of Lucasfilm and Fox film studios into the family. Walt Disney and helped open a new era of content streaming for Disney +.

During their tenure, the studio segment set a number of box office records and released hits such as “Frozen”, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Endgame”. which is currently the highest grossing film of all time.

“The achievements of Walt Disney Studios under the leadership of Alan Horn and Alan Bergman were nothing short of extraordinary,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a statement.

As president, Bergman will oversee creativity, production, marketing and operations for Disney studio content, which includes Disney, Walt Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century, Searchlight Pictures and Blue Sky Studios. He will also oversee Disney’s theatrical productions.

“I’m grateful to have taken over as president of the studios because I deeply believe in our people, the culture and the work we do,” said Bergman, a 24-year Disney veteran.

From 2005 to 2019, Bergman served as president of Walt Disney Studios. In this role, he led the integrations of Pixar and Marvel Studios and released 25 films that had at least $ 1 billion at the global box office.

Horn, as creative director, will focus on the creative aspects of the studios’ content channel. Prior to working for Disney, Horn was president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. from 1999 to 2011.

“It’s been an honor to lead Walt Disney Studios for the last eight years,” Horn said. “It was an amazing run and the time is right to shift my attention exclusively to our huge creative slate.”

Disney announced about 100 film and TV projects on Investors’ Annual Day last week, about 80% going directly to Disney +.

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