Who Will Take Over for Lasseter at WDAS?

[Kyle]

If I produced a series of flops (or close to flops) I'd be wanting to step down too probably. Why would you stay in a position that doesn't seem to be as successful as your biggest breakout hit?

[UmbrellaFish]

I was sort of wondering what was taking so long for this to happen.

Most of the films under her tenure were mediocre, but I also think she took risks and that made her tenure more interesting to live through. I think someone here said it before but Frozen II does not feel like a sequel to a blockbuster film. And I cannot believe there was a gay main character in WDAS in a recent movie— I thought I’d be an old man before that happened. I think Encanto is a very strong film. I think Wish is pretty bad, but I get the sense there was some executive meddling there that contributed to the jumbled mess we got. Maybe her movies in general weren’t that great, but they were a refreshing change of pace from the samey Lasseter era— for better or worse, you were always surprised!

[Disney's Divinity]

Not really surprised, I don't think she enjoyed it very much. And this way she can still work at WDAS on her own projects without the vitriol being aimed at her. TBH, I'm not sure Pete Docter really enjoys running PIXAR either. I liked all of Frozen II, Raya, and Encanto. Strange World and Wish were just okay, but they both featured heavy meddling--the former was Chapek trying to fix his own problems and the latter was ironed out to the point of blandness.

[PatchofBlue]

Not really surprised, I don't think she enjoyed it very much. And this way she can still work at WDAS on her own projects without the vitriol being aimed at her. TBH, I'm not sure Pete Docter really enjoys running PIXAR either. I liked all of Frozen II, Raya, and Encanto. Strange World and Wish were just okay, but they both featured heavy meddling--the former was Chapek trying to fix his own problems and the latter was ironed out to the point of blandness.

Why do you say that?

Not saying you're wrong. I'm just curious.

Incidentally, I mostly line up with your assessments of the films that came out under Lee.

[Disney's Divinity]

IDK, she just came across unsatisfied being stretched thin across multiple projects. I mean, it was nice to have a name I knew and liked at the top, but I don't think creative types like them really enjoy taking on what is more of a manager type of role, they prefer to be fully involved on one project at a time. Of course, she could've followed Lasseter's mold of simply taking over every film and pushing out whoever the director is, but she just didn't have that type of personality. Then you're getting the negative criticism for everything even when it's not fully in your control, considering many of the bad things going on had to do more with Chapek, Iger, etc. falling down-wind in her and Docter's lap to deal with.

So I'm glad she's going back to working one film at a time. I just wonder who Bush is? Either way, Iger's the one making most of the decisions, whoever's in that role is just the rubber-stamp.

[Sotiris]

Don Hahn in a new interview revealed that after Disney acquired Pixar, Ed Catmull had asked him to run WDAS, but he declined. Had he accepted, the course of the studio could have been so different.

[PatrickvD]

Don Hahn in a new interview revealed that after Disney acquired Pixar, Ed Catmull had asked him to run WDAS, but he declined. Had he accepted, the course of the studio could have been so different.

I don’t think we could know that. Power corrupts.

And in this role if you’re not a strong leader with leverage over a large group of other senior leaders you essentially become a puppet for those leaders. He could have an easily become a puppet.

I’m sure Jennifer had great ideas for the studio before she became a doormat. And creatives are easy to walk all over for the board.

[The Disneynerd]

Im so happy she stepped out so she can fully give her energy to help crafting F3 &4, as we all know how the second turned out. I fully believe she will polish those movies up as she contributed so much for creating Frozens storyline and even made the key decision to change Elsas whole character

Don Hahn in a new interview revealed that after Disney acquired Pixar, Ed Catmull had asked him to run WDAS, but he declined. Had he accepted, the course of the studio could have been so different.

im not too familiar with Don Hahn , do u think he would have made things better or worse?

[Sotiris]

im not too familiar with Don Hahn , do u think he would have made things better or worse?

Better, for sure. Don Hahn is a producer from Disney's Renaissance era who's responsible for Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, among others.