Publishing Exec Expected to Be Hollywood Pictures Chief

Michael Lynton, a top executive from Disney’s Hyperion Press publishing unit in New York, is expected to be named the new head of Hollywood Pictures, sources confirmed Friday.

The Walt Disney Co., under which Hollywood Pictures hangs its banner, is currently in intense contract negotiations with Lynton and his announcement could come as early as next week when details of his deal are hammered out, sources said. “It’s between days and weeks,” an insider noted.

Lynton has been house-hunting in the Los Angeles area, sources confirmed, and Disney officials are now looking for his replacement at Hyperion Press.

With his background in publishing instead of movie-making, some film industry observers were surprised that his name surfaced in April after Ricardo Mestres stepped down as president of Hollywood and became a producer on the lot.

“Nobody else (inside Disney) wanted it,” said one film industry source with knowledge of the studio hierarchy. “I hear they are very serious about putting (Lynton) in there.”

Unlike Mestres, Lynton would take his marching orders from his close friend David Hoberman, who was elevated to the post of president of motion pictures for the Walt Disney Studios when Mestres departed. Hoberman, in turn, answers to the real power at Disney, studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Under Mestres, Hollywood Pictures struggled to make hits, releasing a string of lackluster films from “Super Mario Bros.” to “Swing Kids.” Ironically, Hollywood Pictures is expecting a better year in 1994, with this summer’s Pauly Shore comedy “In the Army Now” and this fall’s Robert Redford drama “Quiz Show.”