The Walt Disney Company has announced a small restructure at the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Fox’s recently acquired Blue Sky Studios.
What’s happening:
- Walt Disney Animation Studios President Andrew Millstein has been named as Co-President of Blue Sky Studios according to Deadline.
- The news came earlier today from Disney Studios’ CCO and Co-Chairman Alan Horn and Co-Chairman Alan Bergman.
- Millstein will share the role with Co-President Rob Baird.
- Millstein’s appointment follows the announced exit of former Co-President Andrea Miloro who shared she was stepping down from her role of two years.
- Baird will reportedly be in charge of creative direction; Millstein will oversee the studio’s day-to-day business.
- Clark Spencer has been promoted to President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Spencer will work alongside CCO Jennifer Lee and will report to Bergman.
- Jim Morris, President, Pixar Animation Studios is expanding his role and will now serve in a supervisory capacity at Blue Sky Studios. Millstein will report to Morris.
What they’re saying:
- Alan Horn and Alan Bergman in a statement: “We are incredibly proud of the strength and depth of leadership in our animation studios, and Andrew, Clark, and Jim are all exemplars of that. The remarkable success of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios over the past decade is due in large part to the respective leadership of Andrew and Jim and their ability to foster creativity, technology, and culture in equal parts, and we are thrilled that they will be lending their experience to the Blue Sky team along with Robert Baird’s creative guidance. Clark has been an invaluable leader and contributor at Disney Animation, combining exceptional creative and business instincts, and we’re so pleased he will be leading this historic studio in a key role alongside Jennifer Lee.”
About Andrew Millstein:
- Millstein has been President Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2014. Prior to that appointment, Millstein served as General Manager of WDAS starting in 2008.
- He’s responsible for overseeing several of Disney’s recent and massively successful films including:
- Frozen
- Zootopia
- Tangled
- Wreck-it-Ralph franchise
- Big Hero 6
- Moana
About Clark Spencer:
- Spencer’s career with Disney spans almost 30 years and in that time he’s produced five Oscar-nominated films for Walt Disney Animation Studios.
- Spencer has won an Oscar and a Producers Guild Award for Zootopia. He also received a PGA Award for Wreck-It Ralph.
- He’s also produced:
- Lilo & Stitch
- Bolt
- Ralph Breaks the Internet.
- Spencer worked for Disney in strategic planning and finance, before overseeing production and operations at Disney Feature Animation.
- He has earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Via IMDb
About Jim Morris:
- Morris has worked at Pixar since 2005 and has served as General Manager since 2008 and President since 2014.
- He has overseen the production of several of the studio’s films including:
- Wall-E (which he also produced)
- Up
- Toy Story 3
- Inside Out
- Coco
- Toy Story 4
- Before making the move to Pixar, Morris served as an executive at Lucasfilm for nearly 20 years.