#barry meyer

There's lots of Hollywood buzz about this one: a year after the Time-Warner poobahs in New York pushed out Alan Horn, the successful long-time head of its Warner Bros. studio operation, Disney's Bob Iger announced he was bringing Horn on to clean up the challenges facing the Mouse House's studio operations. 

To be sure, Disney has had a lot to smile about lately with the jaw-dropping global success of "The Avengers," which its Marvel Entertainment unit had midwifed into a billion-dollar baby.

But that came close on the heels of the fiscal disaster known as (eventually) "John Carter." The Martian mess based on an Edgar Rice Burroughs series caused a nine-figure write-down for Disney just a couple of months ago, and already has gone into the history books as one of the worst film flops ever. 

Just a couple of days ago, at the AllThingsD Conference, Iger said he was looking to improve the studio's performance with live-action film (Disney is also home to Pixar, which continues to sparkle even if one of its own had directed "John Carter").

Given Horn's track record (Warner had been the top studio in terms of market share seven of his 12 years as chairman and COO of the studio), Iger clearly has reason to believe he's found his man. Now comes the hard part, fixing things. 

What do you think DIsney Studios needs to do to return to consistent success? Where should Horn start first?

Aquaman the movie still in the works

It seems that DC Comics are looking to catch their rivals Marvel Comics by putting out some more of their own comic book characters on the big screen. Although there has been talk of an Aquaman movie for quite some time, nothing has really gotten off the ground but Warner Bros. insist that an Aquaman movie is still in the works and could hit the big screen in the coming years

Warner Bros. Pictures Chairman Barry Meyer has stated that an Aquaman movie is still in the developing process but that he could be set to make some cameo appearances in other DC movies before they introduce him in a solo capacity. The reason for this is due to the fact that the majority of an Aquaman movie would have to take place underwater, raising the budget of the movie and not enough people know Aquaman well enough, to risk a big budget on him.

This week, another Hollywood succession battle began in earnest. Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes  pushed out longtime motion picture group chief Alan Horn, even though under his leadership, the studio has enjoyed record profits and remarkable stability. That clears the way for Horn’s successor, Jeff Robinov, who took charge on Friday, to step into a three-way race to become studio chairman when Barry Meyer departs in 2013.

It should be interesting to see who will take over Barry Meyer's post in a couple years and it will probably be decided by whoever's division is most profitable.