Though he broke into the business as the maverick co-founder of the independent Morgan Creek Productions, Joe Roth is no newcomer to Hollywood’s rough-and-tumble corporate world.
For more than three years he sat in Darryl F. Zanuck’s old office as chairman of 20th Century Fox. Roth, a former director and producer, was Hollywood’s first filmmaker to assume the post of studio chief before starting Caravan Pictures at Disney nearly two years ago.
Roth, a smooth-spoken and respected veteran of the Hollywood community, was seen by some as
the likely successor to longtime Disney studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg as soon as he took the Caravan job. But not until last Tuesday morning, when Roth was walking on the beach with his wife, did the call from Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner come through.
“Nothing like this is ever undertaken without conflict,” the 46-year-old Roth said last week. “But my decision was pretty clear. I’d just come back from vacation, and realized I was missing a lot. I miss being involved in the distribution and marketing of a large slate of films. I miss the breadth of the studio chief job.”
A startled movie industry responded positively to the news. “Joe brings both executive experience and a creative background to the job,” says Frank Price, chairman of Price Entertainment and former studio chief of Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures. “As a former director and producer, he’s got great talent relationships and tremendous insight into moviemaking.”
Roth, whose Morgan Creek turned out such hits as Major League and Young Guns, led Fox to the two most profitable years in its history. Spurred by the astronomical success of Home Alone, the studio released Die Hard 2, Sleeping With The Enemy and White Men Can’t Jump under his reign.
The track record at Caravan Pictures, which will now be overseen by Roth’s partner, Roger Birnbaum, is less impressive. Only The Three Musketeers and Angels in the Outfield performed respectably. Angie and I Love Trouble proved to be major box-office disappointments.
Though Universal chief Tom Pollock suggests that the differences between Katzenberg and Roth will be more stylistic than substantive, Roth points out that the job has been tailored a bit. “I told Eisner that I wanted to do this job as a ‘movie person’ – developing material, putting movies together,” he said. “I’m not giving up the creative . . . just bringing it into a new realm. Jeffrey and I are different people, and I won’t be inheriting the same job he had.”
Added Roth: “I’m not being asked to do anything I haven’t done – seeking out material and talented people to work with it.”
