Disney hits a snag after chairman resigns

Mickey surely lost one of his friends last Friday in the rotund Dick Cook. Much to Hollywood’s complete surprise, Cook, a proud USC alumnus, resigned as chairman of Walt Disney Studios. With that, the Cook empire — at one point a panoply of wondrous moviemaking but more recently a succession of big-budget star vehicles that either sank or soared — falls.

Or does it? Will Cook’s legacy live on?

The lead-up to Cook’s resignation actually held few surprises.

The signs were many, even if they were seemingly minor. Ultimately, Cook and Disney CEO Bob Iger were philosophically at odds, and Disney finally suffered for it. Cook was no more responsible than Iger; both contributed mightily in selling Disney out.

Tragically, Disney Studios has been in a bad way for some time now — creatively, philosophically and, recently, financially. In that sense, Cook’s abrupt departure might shock it back into prosperity, or at least make it re-evaluate its priorities.

This past summer saw such embarrassments as Race to Witch Mountain and G-Force besmirch Disney’s once-unimpeachable name. The so-called magic of Disney — which, when captured in film, little else can rival — seemed then impossibly far off, or perhaps lost amid sloppy storytelling and mounds of computer-generated imagery.

Disney was once the undisputed master of modern fairytales, reimagining and reinventing them with preternatural ease. Few, if any, would say that today.

Cook knew of this old magic; he actually managed to conjure it up with a Mickey-like wave of his wand on several occasions, including such masterpieces as Lilo & Stitch, the Pixar movies and even Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

But for each masterpiece, there were a great many of magic-less failures: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, National Treasure (and its ill-advised sequel) and, of course, the notoriously convoluted Pirates sequels. The problem, of course, was the public’s ravenous consumption of those cinematic monstrosities, great big movies of little-to-no substance.

Cook was enamored with the blockbuster, and may have forgotten Disney’s purpose. No doubt he was a first-class businessman and by many accounts simply the nicest guy around, but his focus was more commercial than it ought to have been. Consider one of the studio’s final achievements under Cook’s leadership: green-lighting a remake of Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, with McG — whose obsession with things that go boom ruins movies — on board to direct.

Of course, few can expect Iger — the great commercializer of Disney — to make meaningful strides in rescuing the studio, especially in light of a recent Los Angeles Times article that names Disney Channel President Richard Ross as a possible replacement for Cook (repeat: Disney Channel president). An infinitely better choice would be John Lasseter, the chief creative officer for Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, whose name has also been mentioned. Pixar has garnered much of Disney’s success in the past decade.

It is easy to dismiss the question of Cook’s successor as unimportant — merely another corporate wrinkle to be ironed out and forgotten — but easy does not mean correct. Though most of us will not think of it this way, this choice will play a role in shaping the consciousness of the next generation. Rare is the child who didn’t grow up in the company of Simba, Aladdin, Belle and Ariel. Who will replace these figures, these teachers, these magical mythmakers and indispensable contributors to the flowering of our collective imagination? Someone with a title as corporate-sounding as “studio head” will essentially decide.

Significant changes in leadership are often special moments for deep reflection and re-evaluation. They don’t come around all that often, and should be treated with exquisite care. Generally, much is at stake.

Obviously, Iger’s selection will not radically alter the cosmic course of human events, not like a presidential election. But the notion of corporate mythmakers — Disney or otherwise — should give us pause. These men and women make choices that extend well beyond the walls of their high-rise corporate headquarters. The next generation of Disney movies will do much to cultivate the next generation of imaginations.

Who will have that very great power, that very great responsibility?

Very likely, the man behind Hannah Montana.

Dick Cook, for all your faults, you will be missed.

Jason Kehe is a sophomore majoring in print journalism. His column, “Small Wonder,” runs every other Wednesday.