Schneider

ATPAM: Features: Schneider

FEATURES

Peter Schneider to Leave Disney

BURBANK, Calif., June 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Peter Schneider will step down from his position as chairman of The Walt Disney Studios to start an independent Broadway theater production and investment company partially funded by The Walt Disney Company, it was announced today by Michael D. Eisner, chairman and CEO, and Robert A. Iger, President and COO of The Walt Disney Company.

Richard Cook, Chairman of The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group; Thomas Schumacher, president of Walt Disney Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation and Buena Vista Theatrical Group; and Nina Jacobson, president of the Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group, will continue in their current positions.

Cook will continue to have worldwide responsibility for all marketing and distribution in all platforms for the feature film and home video products of The Walt Disney Studios.

Schumacher will continue to be responsible for all feature and television animation and video premieres for the studios plus the production, financing, marketing and distribution of Disney's Broadway theatrical businesses.

Jacobson will continue to lead the development and production of Disney and Touchstone live action films.

"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. He has chosen to go back to his roots in live theater. Whether Peter is producing a play on Broadway or wherever his plans take him, I will be with him in spirit. Peter's passion and purpose, however, will be missed in Burbank."

Schneider, an executive at Disney since 1985, has been in his current position since January 2000 and previously served as president of The Walt Disney Studios after having headed Disney's Feature Animation unit.

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, back in 1985."

Said Iger, "While we regret bidding farewell to Peter, we are fortunate to have three outstanding executives with solid and proven track records overseeing The Walt Disney Studios. Dick Cook has practically grown up with Disney and knows the motion picture business inside and out. Tom Schumacher has been a vital part of Feature Animation for the last 13 years and has been an incredible force in shaping Disney's animation and theater projects. Nina Jacobson built much of her reputation outside Disney and we are pleased that she joined us in early 1998 to contribute her creativity and judgment to developing motion pictures and overseeing production of our live action films."

Cook is a 30-year Disney veteran. Under his leadership, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution was the number one domestic distributor for 2000 and for seven of the past 10 years. Schumacher joined Walt Disney Animation in 1988 and rose to the position of executive vice president of Feature Animation, after having helped with the turnaround of Disney's animation activities. He was involved in all of Disney's animation films in recent years, starting with "Rescuers Down Under," along with "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Pocahontas," "Toy Story," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Hercules," "Mulan," "A Bug's Life," "Tarzan," "Toy Story 2," "Dinosaur," "The Emperor's New Groove" and "Atlantis: The Lost Empire." Schumacher was executive producer of the screen blockbuster "The Lion King."

Along with Schneider, he produced the hugely successful Broadway musical "The Lion King," which garnered six Tony awards. Schumacher also oversaw the opening of Elton John's and Tim Rice's "Aida," which won four Tony awards. He moved to his current post in 1998. Jacobson re-joined Disney in 1998 and supervised productions that included "The Sixth Sense," "Remember The Titans," "Pearl Harbor" and "The Princess Diaries," in addition to forthcoming films. Previously, she was a senior film executive at DreamWorks, SKG, where she developed "What Lies Beneath" and originated the idea for "Antz." Before that, she was senior vice president for production at Universal. She started her film career at Disney as a story analyst for the Disney Sunday Movie.

For further information, please contact: John Dreyer of The Walt Disney Company, 818-560-5300.

The presence of this article on our site does not necessarily reflect the view of
The Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers.