In a surprise decision following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios has moved to shutter the Fox 2000 division run by Elizabeth Gabler. The division recently spearheaded Best Picture nominee “Hidden Figures” as well as “Love Simon” and “The Hate U Give.” Their next release was Joe Wright’s “Woman in the Window” with Amy Adams and Gary Oldman in October.
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A well respected development executive across the industry, Gabler championed mid-range releases that often targeted underserved demos such as African-American, teenage, female and, most recently, gay audiences. That seemed like a perfect fit for Disney’s emphasis on streaming platforms with its upcoming Disney+ service and majority control of Hulu. It was also leaked last October that Fox 2000 was one of the few divisions that would remain intact following the merger. Clearly, things changed.
While Fox 2000 had its share of misfires, it also contributed heavily to Fox’s bottom line with acclaimed hits such as “Walk the Line,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Marly & Me,” “Life of Pi,” “The Fault in Our Stars” and “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise.
Glasser is the second major female creative executive to lose her position at a major studio following the departure of 20th Chairperson Stacey Snider. That, unfortunately, was expected once the acquisition was announced in December of 2017.
Other major departures today include Worldwide Marketing president Pam Levine, her co-president Kevin Campbell, Chief Creative officer Tony Sella, Domestic Distribution head Chris Aronson and International Distribution President Andrew Cripps. These changes will put significant pressure on Disney’s already strained marketing appatatus. It’s possible many of 20th titles on the release date will change from 2019 to 2020, but there are currently 10 more releases set for this calendar year alone. Walt Disney Studios has 10 titles left on its own late this year including “Dumbo” next Friday.
It is still expected that Disney will leave top prestige producer Fox Searchlight largely intact. It’s possible some of the more prestige titles on Fox’s slate including the afformentioned “Woman in the Window” and James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari” could be added to their slate.