The end of an era at a company is often marked when someone steps down from a position of high importance. This however, then leads to a brand-new era for the company due to a different person gaining the now vacant spot. Today, that has just happened for Walt Disney Animation Studios.
The website, The Hollywood Reporter, has just announced that Jennifer Lee has stepped down as CCO of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Lee, however, will still stay at the Disney company. The reason for her departure from the position is explained in her farewell letter as her wanting to return to filmmaking (among her current upcoming projects is the 3rd and 4th Frozen movie, due to her having co-directed and written the screenplay for the first 2 movies).
Jennifer Lee’s reign as CCO wasn’t a very smooth run. Near the end of her tenure, the studio ended up suffering 2 major flops: 2022’s Strange World and last year’s Wish (with the former becoming one of the biggest box office bombs of all time). Not to mention that her first film as CCO was the nowadays very contentious Ralph Breaks the Internet. Still, her reign had its moments of success, most notable of which being 2021’s Encanto.
Her replacement will be Jared Bush, best known for co-directing Zootopia and Encanto and writing the screenplay of Moana. In her farewell letter, Jennifer says about her successor that “Jared’s talents as an animation writer and director stretch far beyond the ZOOTOPIAs, the MOANAs, and ENCANTO. He is committed to this studio and its future, and I truly believe that his passion, his tireless work ethic, and his pursuit of excellence will only make us stronger.”
We can only hope that Jennifer’s statement will be proven correct and Jared Bush’s reign as CCO will be as good as she says it will be.
