Meet the 14 power-player Disney execs responsible for turning its movies into box-office juggernauts that earn billions
- Disney broke multiple box-office records last year with mega hits like "Avengers: Endgame" and "The Lion King."
- The company's film executives, from Walt Disney Studios cochairman Alan Horn to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, have built an empire of lucrative assets.
- Here are the 14 power players that have shaped Disney into the studio that everyone else is trying to catch up to.
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Disney is a box-office titan with some of the most popular movie franchises in history at its disposal.
The company earned $3.76 billion domestically and $11.12 billion globally in 2019, both box-office records. It made up 33% of the domestic market share last year - 38% if you count its releases from Fox, which the studio acquired last March (it has since been renamed 20th Century Studios).
It's thanks to a film team that has positioned Disney's lucrative assets as the entertainment properties to beat. Under former CEO Bob Iger's leadership and in the span of under 15 years, Disney has acquired animation studio Pixar, home of "Toy Story" and "The Incredibles"; Marvel, home of the Avengers; Lucasfilm, home of the "Star Wars" franchise; and 20th Century, which houses the upcoming "Avatar" sequels.
Iger stepped down as CEO in late February and was succeeded by Bob Chapek, the former chairman of Disney parks, experiences, and products. Iger will remain with the company through 2021 as executive chairman, focusing on the creative side of the business. During an investor call, Iger called that his first priority now that there's a strategy in place for the Fox integration and Disney Plus has launched.
But Disney's success wasn't all on Iger. There's a group of executives in charge of those valuable assets.
For instance, Walt Disney Studios cochairman Alan Horn, a former Warner Bros. executive, has spearheaded Disney's film strategy since 2012. He now has Alan Bergman, the former Walt Disney Studios president, at his side as cochairman.
Disney is unlikely to come close to its unprecedented 2019 box office this year, especially if the coronavirus continues to spread, and the market could be more evenly distributed between studios. But the company still has a stacked lineup, both in 2020 and beyond, that could guarantee its dominance for the next decade. With the growing Marvel Cinematic Universe, "Avatar" sequels on the way, and more, Disney isn't slowing down any time soon.
That doesn't mean it hasn't experienced hiccups, though.
In January, Emma Watts, who oversaw 20th Century during the acquisition, resigned, leaving one of the key positions currently vacant in the Disney empire. Her departure comes at a time when Disney is dealing with box-office disappointments it inherited from the studio, such as last year's "Dark Phoenix" and, more recently, "The Call of the Wild."
Iger knew that the integration would take time.
"It will probably take a solid year, maybe two years, before we can have an impact on the films in production," Iger said during a Q3 earnings call last year. "We're all confident we're going to turn around the results of Fox live action."
Fortunately, there are more than enough key executives to pick up the slack until Disney decides on Watts' replacement.
If you have a tip about Disney, Marvel, or "Star Wars," contact the author at tclark@businessinsider.com or DM him on Twitter @TravClark2.
Here are the main players who handle the feature film side at Disney: