Disney ousts production chief Oren Aviv

Continuing to clean house and put his own team in place, Walt Disney Studios Chairman Rich Ross has ousted the studio’s production chief, Oren Aviv, according to two people close to the executive.

Aviv, who had been at the studio for 18 years, was president of marketing from 2000 to 2006 before taking the production job. Aviv also served as an executive producer on the studio’s movie series “National Treasure” and was a close ally of former studio head Dick Cook, who was ousted by Ross last year.

The studio has been suffering a creative drought, with a number of movies, including “Shopaholic,” “G-Force” and “Old Dogs,” underperforming at the box office.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger has been publicly critical of the movie picks. In October, he named Ross, who built Disney Channel into a children’s-programming juggernaut, to succeed Cook. Since that time, Ross has fired a number of Cook’s top executives and has restructured the marketing and distribution operations. He is expected soon to name a new production head and marketing chief.

A Disney spokeswoman had no immediate comment.