Disney Animation Chief to Step Down

The president of Walt Disney Co.’s bedrock animation division will be leaving his job in June after a tenure in which the operation’s successes have been overshadowed by deep layoffs and spotty box-office numbers.

Thomas Schumacher, a 14-year Disney veteran, has been involved in some of the studio’s biggest hits, including “The Lion King,” “Tarzan” and this summer’s hit, “Lilo & Stitch.” He also was instrumental in championing Disney’s hugely successful partnership with Pixar Animation Studios, which produced such blockbusters as the “Toy Story” films, “A Bug’s Life” and “Monsters, Inc.”

But during his nearly four years at the helm, he also oversaw such big-ticket disappointments as “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” and “Emperor’s New Groove.” Disney -- long the market leader in animation -- has lost ground to rivals in recent years, especially DreamWorks SKG, the company headed by former Disney Studios chief Jeffrey Katzenberg that produced last summer’s hit “Shrek.”

Sources close to the studio said Schumacher is negotiating a new deal with Disney management that could keep him involved in the company’s theatrical stage business, just one aspect of the turf he now oversees.

Reached late Friday, Schumacher refused to comment. Disney spokeswoman Zenia Mucha said: “He is having conversations with the company as to what he will be doing for the company. These are ongoing negotiations.”

With so little being said publicly, speculation spread through the industry’s animation circles Friday that Schumacher was being forced from his position.

However, Mucha said strongly, “That’s not true.”

During his tenure as chief of animation, Schumacher oversaw a wrenching contraction in the animation division prompted by rising animator salaries and soaring production costs. Over the last two years, Disney’s animations ranks have shrunk from a peak of 2,200 to 1,200, with about 200 more job cuts expected by May.

Schumacher also reined in costs by slashing salaries and finding more economical ways to make animation movies such as “Lilo & Stitch.”

According to Disney sources, the most likely successor to Schumacher is deputy David Stainton, who heads Disney’s profitable television animation division.

Schumacher just returned from a two-week trip abroad to promote the studio’s newest animated movie, “Treasure Planet,” which will be released this month.

Schumacher became the head of animation in January 1999 after his boss, Peter Schneider, was promoted to president of Disney Studios. The two had run the animation division for more than a decade and together were responsible for Disney’s foray into Broadway theater with such award-winning shows as “The Lion King,” “Aida” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Schneider, after his surprise departure last year, became a Broadway producer.

Sources said Schumacher is trying to decide whether to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps and strike out on his own or remain as a Disney executive in the theater division.

Already he has set in motion a number of Disney’s planned stage shows, including “The Little Mermaid,” “Tarzan” and “Mary Poppins.”