Letterman apologizes to wife on today's show

Rich Ross named chairman of Walt Disney Studios

Rich Ross, the televisionexecutive who helped revive the moribund Disney Channel, now has to prove he can work movie magic at Walt Disney Studios.

The 47-year-old former talentdepartment head has been tapped by Disney ChiefExecutive Robert A. Iger to fill the post formerlyheld by Dick Cook, who was ousted last month after clashingwith his boss and failing to deliver enough hits over the last year.

Iger will look to Ross toreinvigorate Disney’s flagging box-office fortunes and develop film franchises that can be sold across the entertainment giant’s linesof businesses â€" including themeparks, consumer products and television â€" as well asgrapple with a host of technological issues that are quickly reshapingHollywood.

“Rich has an outstanding record ofcreating high-quality family entertainment that delights audiences around theworld,” Iger said in a prepared statement. “With his success in building theDisney brand across many of our businesses, his astute marketing sensibility,his proven ability in working effectively with talent and his skill atnavigating complex global markets, I’m confident he’s the perfect leader forour studio group.”

By picking an executive fromoutside the clubby precincts of the movie business, Iger is signaling that he wants Ross to shake up a studio that the Disney chief views as entrenched in the past, from relying onhigh-priced, aging stars to open films to spending extravagantly on moviemarketing.

To achieve this, Ross may beborrowing liberally from the playbook he followed to turn around DisneyChannel, which has eclipsed the movie studio in recent years as a hothouse fortalent and ideas that could be packaged and resold across the company’s variousplatforms. Ross has proved himself adept at turning entertainment into brands -- high profile examples include "Hannah Montana,"which launched pop star Miley Cyrus' career, and "High School Musical,' which wascreated for television but quickly found life â€" and revenue â€" in recordedmusic, a big-screen blockbuster and a stage show.

Indeed, at a company that stressesteam playing among its executives, Ross may be the ultimate team player.

“I am very excited to play a keyrole in continuing the storytelling legacy of The Walt Disney Studios. Therehas never been a better time to entertain our global audiences with high-quality and compelling content and introduce new characters that will becomefamily favorites. I look forward to working with Bob, the team at the studiosand all of our Disney family towards that goal,” said Ross.

Since his arrival at DisneyChannel in 1996, Ross worked closely with other divisions of the Burbank-based company.For example, when the channel cast Cyrus as Hannah Montana in 2005, Rossordered an internal “road show” to introduce the new program to other parts ofDisney. Within six months of the show’s premiere, the consumer products group wasshipping Hannah Montanaclothing to stores â€" shaving a year off the time required for new TV-linkedmerchandise to reach retail outlets.

Such cross-division collaborationis a priority for Iger, and something he felt was lackingat the movie studio. Moreover, Disney Channel, under Ross' lead, has become a model for Iger’s oft-toutedfranchise strategy, in which entertainment properties can feed other parts ofthe Disney empire.

A prime example is 2006's “HighSchool Musical” â€" a chaste tale of improbable high school romance between a brain and a jock. Ross revved up the Disney marketing machine, leading to therelease of a soundtrack that was a top-selling CD, a sold-out 42-date concert tour inNorth and South America, a show at Disney’s theme parks and a slew ofmerchandise.

The 2007 sequel, “High School Musical 2,” became thehighest-rated telecast in cable history at the time, and the third installment in 2008,“High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” raked in more than $250 million inworldwide box-office sales. Merchandise based on "High School Musical" and other Disney Channel movies and TV series accounted for $3.6 billion in retail sales worldwide last year -- not including DVDs and CDs.

But despite his success intelevision, Ross has virtually no experience in feature films â€" a moreprotracted process and one encumbered by big egos, longtime habits and muchhigher-coststructures. He must quickly reach out and calm anxieties among Disney’s movietalent, including director Steven Spielberg, producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Scott Rudin, and stars like Johnny Depp â€" all ofwhom were close to Cook and distraught over Iger pushing him out.

High on Ross’ list doubtlesswill be figuring out how to integrate the latest planned addition to Disney’sfamily, Marvel Entertainment, whose library of super-herocharacters the studio will seek to exploit. Disney has lagged behind rivalstudios that have successively produced film adaptations of Marvel properties such as X-Men and Spider-Man.

Another priority for the incomingstudio chief will be forging ties with Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios, whichrecently signed a multiyear distribution deal with Disney and expects to supplythe studio with four to six movies a year.

But Ross’ greatest challenge willbe to address Disney’s creative dearth. Although Disney isn’t the only studio to havesuffered a bad year at the box office, the division lost $12 million in itsmost recent quarter â€" its first loss in four years. A number of its recentmovies, including the Adam Sandler family comedy“Bedtime Stories,” the costly 3-D guinea pig saga“G-Force,” and the latest installment in the 1970s "Witch Mountain" sci-fi adventure franchise, â€œRaceto Witch Mountain,” failed to attract wide audiences.

And like all studio heads, Ross will find himself grappling with a number of sea changes in the business caused by aslump in DVD sales â€" the most lucrative part of a film’s revenue stream â€" andtechnological shifts that have changed how, when and where people watch movies.

--Dawn C. Chmielewski and Claudia Eller

Photo: Rich Ross, left, with "High School Musical" director Kenny Ortega. Credit: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times

Previous posts:

Rich Ross is headed to the movies

Disney's Iger needs to move quickly

Johnny Depp bummed about Dick Cook's exit

Dick Cook out at Walt Disney

letterman apology cbs

David Letterman is trying again.

On Monday's "Late Show," he'll be addressing the controversy over his affairs and the extortion attempt that he first spoke about last Thursday.

CBS has posted a clip from tonight's episode, and it is below. I'll update this post with thoughts of my own later in the evening.

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