Disney Loses Another Studio Boss

Thu., Jun. 21, 2001 12:15 PM PDT by Marcus Errico

Has Pearl Harbor claimed another casualty?

Disney's studio boss Peter Schneider stunned Hollywood Wednesday with the surprise announcement that he was leaving after just 18 months running the Mouse House movie division to start a Broadway production company.

The curious timing of the move--coming after the overhyped, underachieving Pearl Harbor and the just-okay debut of Atlantis: The Lost Empire--has led many in Tinseltown to believe Schneider was feeling the heat from CEO Micheal Eisner.

According to industry scuttlebutt, however, Schneider, who had been a Mouse House exec since 1985, never really lived up to his predecessor, the highly regarded Joe Roth, who left Disney in January 2000 to run Revolution Studios. The Hollywood trades say that Schneider and Eisner failed to develop a comfortable repartee, with Schneider apparently chafed by Eisner's hands-on management style. In any case, Schneider's the latest top executive to leave the company in the past few years.

In a press release, all parties were predictably amicable. "I wish Peter all the success and happiness as he goes forward," Eisner said. "For the last 16 years, he has been a wonderful colleague and friend who has been at the center of our incredible creative successes in animation and the legitimate theater.... Wherever his plans take him, I will be with him in spirit. Peter's passion and purpose, however, will be missed."

Said Schneider: "The past 16 years working for Disney have been the most gratifying of my life. It has been an honor to be part of this company's fantastic heritage and to have worked with some of the finest entertainment people in the world. I want to thank Michael Eisner and Roy Disney for their strong support and encouragement from the very beginning."

In an email to employees, Schneider, 50, said "there was no blowup...or failure to deliver on profits or good artistic results" behind his exit, just the desire to pursue a career in theater.

No successor has been named. In the company statement, Eisner said the under-studio bosses, Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group chief Richard Cook, animation head Thomas Schumacher and Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group president Nina Jacobson would remain in their positions.

Schneider began his Disney career in the animation division, helping the then-beleagured division return to glory in the late '80s. He also produced the groundbreaking, Tony-winning Broadway adaptation of The Lion King and leaves with more in the pipeline.

Schneider's new company, which will produce and invest in stage works, will be partially funded by Disney.