New Duties Likely for Katzenberg

In the rough-and-tumble world of Team Disney, one of the late Frank G. Wells’ many unrecorded acts was mediating confrontations between Chairman Michael D. Eisner and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, whose long-running partnership has been punctuated by more than a few flare-ups. Now, as Katzenberg charts his future at Disney, Wells’ presence may be missed more than ever.

The Disney president’s death in a helicopter crash this month contributed to a corporate shakeout that has so far resulted in the ouster of Hollywood Pictures head Ricardo Mestres and the ascent Thursday of David Hoberman to a job supervising all three of the company’s movie divisions: Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures.

Hoberman’s promotion to president of motion pictures ostensibly paves the way for Katzenberg to take on broader corporate responsibilities--but just how broad is unclear. While Katzenberg and Sanford M. Litvack, executive vice president for law and human resources, are the inside favorites to assume many of Wells’ former duties, sources close to the company say it may be months before Eisner fully resolves Disney’s new structure.

“We’re still mending our wounds here,” said one senior Disney executive. “Everyone is pitching in on a lot of different fronts. But to consider any of those things permanent is like playing Michael’s cards before he’s even decided to deal the deck.”

While no one is expected to succeed Wells outright, Katzenberg could take up some of the slack. At 43, he’s considered one of the industry’s savviest executives. But after 10 years of running the factory-like studio, he’s also clearly restless.

Supervising the successful Broadway production of “Beauty and the Beast” was one temporary distraction. In other moves that may be intended to mollify the studio boss, Eisner has quietly given Katzenberg control of the company’s non-performing Hollywood Records division. New technology, where Disney lags behind many of its multimedia competitors, has also been added to Katzenberg’s kingdom.

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Rescuing Hollywood Records would be a major coup, because the start-up company has been a spectacular failure.

Those who know Katzenberg well say he will manage the record label with the same intensity as he’s managed the studio. Said one source: “He’s going to go out there and romance music lawyers and music agents and talent. That Hollywood Records was a disaster used to burn him up. He always complained he had no input. Now he will.”

But some see even more opportunity for Katzenberg in new technology if he can persuade Eisner, a self-professed technophobe, to make a significant commitment.

Disney was said to be close to a deal with one of the Baby Bells last month, before it fell apart for unknown reasons. Virgin Interactive worked with Disney on the “Aladdin” video game and is creating another game tied to this summer’s “The Lion King.” Another possible partner is Nintendo, which wants to position itself as the “family” video game company.

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Some sources, however, are skeptical of just how far Eisner will allow Katzenberg to stray from the core studio operation. In a recent interview with The Times, Eisner intimated that he wanted Katzenberg to remain in a hands-on, “detail-oriented” capacity at the studio.

One of Katzenberg’s associates said that even though his role is expanding, “Eisner still looks at Jeffrey as his golden retriever.” And Disney insiders say Katzenberg is still very much involved in signing off on scripts, big stars and directors. One of Katzenberg’s current quests is to sign a deal with the new production team of Michael Douglas and Steve Reuther. Disney’s arch nemesis, Warner Bros., is also chasing the highly regarded producers.

While Katzenberg and studio President Richard H. Frank will continue to oversee Caravan Pictures, Miramax Films, feature animation and distribution and marketing, Hoberman is supposed to take on much of the day-to-day responsibility for movie operations in his new post.

Sources say the executive--who formerly headed the Touchstone and Disney banners--has been guaranteed the autonomy to make whatever films he chooses as long as the financial risk is covered, and as long as “Jeffrey and Michael don’t absolutely hate the project.”

Hoberman says his first goal is to revive Hollywood Pictures, which had a string of failures at the box office. Insiders say Michael Lynton, an executive at Disney’s Hyperion publishing division, is Hoberman’s first choice to run Hollywood. Lynton and Katzenberg, who have never met, are scheduled to get together Monday.

Hoberman is also known to be committed to doing more movies with major stars and directors. “He wants to be in business with all the big names,” said one knowledgeable source. “And he wants to do action movies. He feels big action films are less risky than bad concept movies.”

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Given Katzenberg’s legendary aversion to big stars and directors, some people at Disney are hoping he’ll be too busy making interactive deals and searching for the next Snoop Doggy Dogg to interfere with Hoberman’s plans. They’re also hoping he can keep the peace with Eisner.

“Those are both huge pieces of business for him to lead the way on,” one colleague said hopefully.