Fired Warner Bros. Exec Pula Heads Disney Film Marketing

Chris Pula has been named president of movie marketing at Walt Disney Co. He replaced John Cywinski, who had served in that role for the last two years.

Disney officials said Cywinski, formerly a top marketing executive at Burger King who had no experience selling movies when he joined the studio, will stay on in an undefined non-marketing role with the motion picture group.

While sources said Cywinski never really caught on to the job, Pula is widely regarded in the industry for his innovative marketing skills. In an earlier job as head of marketing for New Line Cinema, he was responsible for creating winning campaigns for the hit movies “The Mask,” “Dumb and Dumber,” “Seven” and “Michael.”

Pula was fired as head of marketing at Warner Bros. in December after less than a year on the job when his flamboyant and pull-no-punches style got him in trouble with management at the studio.

His unconventional style led many in Hollywood to wonder how he will fit into the button-down Disney culture.

Pula has been associated with Disney Studios Chairman Joe Roth for about decade since they both worked at 20th Century Fox.

Pula launched his career in broadcasting at CNN in Atlanta as part of the cable network’s start-up team. He also spent five years as an account executive and creative supervisor at Grey Entertainment & Media in New York.