Seagram Fires Universal Pictures Chief Casey Silver

Following a dismal year at the box office and the disastrous performance of its holiday movies, Seagram Co. has fired Casey Silver, the chairman of its film division, and put Universal Studios President Ron Meyer in direct charge of the operation.

Silver was the last top executive holdover from the regime that ran Universal Studios before the Canadian liquor giant bought the entertainment company in 1995.

This last weekend’s Thanksgiving holiday debut of the costly sequel “Babe: Pig in the City” and disappointing returns from the equally big-budgeted release “Meet Joe Black” nailed the coffin shut for Silver, whose job has been in jeopardy for some time over the generally poor performance of movies he’s overseen during the last three years.

Silver’s firing comes on the heels of the ousting two weeks ago of Universal Studios Chairman Frank Biondi Jr. and continues the management turmoil and corporate unrest that has plagued the entertainment company since Seagram’s chief executive, Edgar Bronfman Jr., took the reins.

The removal of 43-year-old Silver places Meyer--the top-ranking executive in the entertainment division--squarely on the hot seat. Meyer was Silver’s boss and, in assuming Silver’s responsibilities, he’ll be operating for the first time in the trenches, much like his counterparts at other studios, who include Warner Bros.’ co-chairman Terry Semel and Walt Disney Co.’s Joe Roth.

Meyer, a former talent agent and co-founder of Creative Artists Agency, has been functioning in a more behind-the-scenes, nondescript role since joining Universal in 1995.

Meyer--to whom the movie, theme park and television divisions report--is the executive who puts on a public face for Universal as he travels to Florida theme park operations eight to 10 times a year and undertakes such endeavors as showing up in Osaka, Japan, for the formal groundbreaking of its $1.7-billion theme park/entertainment center, to open in 2001. Universal has a 24% equity stake in that park and will collect an additional management fee.

Hollywood insiders question whether Meyer will be up to the daunting task of turning around the fortunes of Universal’s movie division, whose paltry domestic market share of 4.48%, according to Exhibitor Relations Co., lags every major studio except MGM/UA.

Meyer has very strong talent relationships from his three decades as one of Hollywood’s top agents, but the day-to-day demands of managing a major movie studio and being the one ultimately responsible for a billion-dollar slate of movies requires somewhat different skills.

It also isn’t what he signed on for when he left the agency business to join the corporate studio ranks.

“It means I will get up earlier and go home later,” said Meyer, 54, who lives in Malibu, cherishes his personal time, and is known for his laid-back, noncorporate style.

Meyer said he’s not overwhelmed by the pressure of being on the line in movies, given all the support he expects to get from Universal’s production team. “I will be responsible for green lighting the movies, but I have a very good staff I’ll depend on to bring me projects,” Meyer said.

Concurrent with Silver’s removal, Universal announced that co-President of Production Stacey Snider has been promoted to production president and Kevin Misher has been named co-president of production. Chris McGurk remains president and chief operating officer of Universal Pictures, who along with the movie group’s department heads will report directly to Meyer.

“The buck will stop with me and I’ll be responsible for final decisions on the production slate, but that’s not to say that decisions didn’t get made here without my being aware of them,” Meyer said, acknowledging that he was “clearly disappointed in the performances” of “Babe” and “Meet Joe Black.”

The cost to produce each film approached $100 million and tens of millions more to market, and each was controlled more by the filmmakers than by the studio.

“Babe,” the sequel to 1995’s highly successful sleeper, grossed just $8.2 million over the five-day holiday weekend, getting creamed by two competing kids’ movies, Disney’s “A Bug’s Life” ($45.8 million) and Paramount’s “The Rugrats Movie” ($27.4 million).

On Sunday night, Meyer called Silver to tell him he was being released--news that came as little surprise to the studio chief.

“This is not about any one film,” Meyer said. “We’ve not had the success we should have had and sometimes you need a change of focus.”

Silver, who has a multiyear production deal built into his contract, will set up shop at Universal as an independent producer.

With more than three years to go on his current contract, sources said, Silver also will receive a cash severance.

Industry insiders were surprised last year when Meyer extended Silver’s contract for an additional four years amid a disappointing run of movies that included “Kull the Conquerer,” “Daylight,” “A Simple Wish,” “The Chamber” and “McHale’s Navy.”

Silver said that not unlike any other studio head, “I’ve had very good days and very bad days. Yes, we had a disappointing year and I accept responsibility for that.”

Silver said while his firing didn’t come as a shock, it is still disheartening. “I would have preferred to have finished a job that I started, but I feel that I’ve done the best I could do and I stand tall,” said Silver, who joined the studio in 1987 and rose through the ranks to eventually succeed Tom Pollock as movie chairman in late 1995.

During his tenure, Silver also has overseen such hits as the original “Babe,” “Apollo 13,” “Casper” and the more recent “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor” and Steven Spielberg’s “The Lost World,” all of which helped boost movie earnings in 1996 and 1997.

Silver--who began his career as a screenwriter and assistant to director Adrian Lyne on “Flashdance” and also held executive posts at TriStar Pictures and Simpson Bruckheimer Productions--said he stands behind movies such as “Primary Colors,” “Out of Sight” and “One True Thing,” even though they were commercially disappointing. Likewise, he said he’s proud of the “Babe” sequel and “Meet Joe Black” and only “wished they had performed better in their domestic runs.”

It’s widely believed that “Babe”--whose benefit premiere was canceled after director George Miler failed to have a completed cut in time--was released at the wrong time, competitively speaking, and that the three-hour-long “Joe Black” was hurt by damning reviews despite the popularity of its star, Brad Pitt.

Over the last year, there has been a cleaning out of Universal’s senior movie executives, which also included the firing of production president Marc Platt and marketing chiefs Buffy Shutt and Kathy Jones.

With the removal of Biondi, Bronfman reorganized Seagram into three operating companies--music; movies, television and recreation; and beverages--saying there was room for only one chief executive and that he would take a much more hands-on role at the entertainment company.

It’s unclear how much time Bronfman will devote to the movie side. Next week, Seagram will announce the closing of its $10.4-billion purchase of PolyGram and begin to implement the most massive restructuring in the history of the music industry. The unprecedented move--under which Seagram expects to slash $300 million in annual costs--will result in the shuttering of well-known record labels, the closing of plants and warehouses and the loss of thousands of jobs.

The reorganization is certain to cause management discord and morale problems in the months ahead as Seagram attempts to merge the different cultures and operations of the two companies. Sources estimate that nearly 20% of the 15,500 workers employed by PolyGram and Universal could be let go.

With all the tumult, there are those in Hollywood and in the investment community (not to mention Seagram’s shareholders) who wonder when, and if, Bronfman will ever get his arms firmly around the entertainment company he’s bet his family’s fortune on.

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Times staff writer Chuck Philips contributed to this report.