Hollywood Pictures Company

The movies all seem to have catchy titles with easy-to-understand themes. "Blank Check": A lonely 11-year-old boy "cashes in" on an opportunity to become very popular when an impatient crook runs over his three-speed bike and absent-mindedly leaves a blank check to cover the damage. The boy boldly fills in the check for $1 million. "My Father the Hero": A vacationing, love-struck 14-year-old girl concocts a scheme to pass her father off as her lover in order to impress the boy of her dreams.

David Vogel, the four-year president of Disney Pictures, is expanding his movie-making agenda to include some films for adults that will be distributed under the studio's Hollywood Pictures banner. Vogel takes on the additional title of president of Hollywood Pictures, which for years was one of Walt Disney Co.'s three production labels--along with Touchstone Pictures and Disney Pictures--but last year was scaled back to function strictly as a releasing arm.

"Smoke and Mirrors," a pricey, special-effects-laden joint venture between Disney's Hollywood Pictures and Cinergi, received a triple whammy late last week when its star, Sean Connery, its director, Frank Marshall, and a producer, Kathleen Kennedy, bailed out. Connery informed the filmmakers of his decision on Wednesday.

Take Exit 192 off Interstate 5 in western Oregon, turn west and you'll find yourself in Eugene, an idyllic college town full of wide boulevards, espresso bars and big houses with well-tended yards. But head east and you'll wind up in Springfield, a town of trailer parks, auto body shops and rundown apartment buildings. Steve Prefontaine spent thousands of hours running through the streets of both cities.

Ricardo Mestres is out as president of Walt Disney Co.'s Hollywood Pictures movie division, bringing an abrupt end to a six-year reign that left a string of lackluster films ranging from "Super Mario Bros." to "Swing Kids." Mestres, 36, stepped down Tuesday and was given a long-term production deal at the studio. The move was widely expected, based on long-running speculation that Disney management had grown impatient with the division's poor performance.

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.

Walt Disney Co., sharply countering production cutbacks by other movie makers, said Thursday that it is forming a new film unit and plans to double its production of feature films. The new unit, Hollywood Pictures, will begin operation in February and will make about 12 movies a year by 1991, Disney said. The studio currently releases about 15 films a year, including several "picked up" from outside producers, under the Touchstone Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures labels.

When Dick Tracy shoots his way into movie theatres this summer, his won't be the only famous name at stake. Walt Disney Co., in a bold departure, is releasing the film under the classic "Disney" banner usually reserved for such kiddie fare as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Loaded with double entendres and featuring Madonna in outfits provocative enough to send Bashful into cardiac arrest, "Dick Tracy" drastically stretches the boundaries of the Walt Disney Pictures formula.

No one associated with "The Joy Luck Club," the film version of Amy Tan's best-seller saw it coming. Not Tan, who was dubious about a big-screen adaptation of her lyrical, deeply personal stories of two generations of Chinese women. Not the director Wayne Wang who, after his "Eat a Bowl of Tea" received a lukewarm response at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, swore off Chinese-American themes. Certainly not Disney's Hollywood Pictures, whose Sept.

Disney Gets 'The Horse Whisperer': In a much-watched Hollywood bidding war, Disney's Hollywood Pictures won a $3-million fight for the film rights to the book, acting on behalf of actor and filmmaker Robert Redford. The book is a first-time effort by British filmmaker Nicholas Evans. Rachel Pfeffer at Redford's Wildwood Productions was said to be instrumental in obtaining the project.

A year ago, Hollywood Pictures was a studio on decidedly shaky ground. Ricardo Mestres, who had headed the Walt Disney Co. unit for six years, stepped down amid widespread criticism that the studio's formula for success--a steady diet of high-concept, low-budget films--was growing stale. The formula had produced huge profits for Disney with movies like "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "Encino Man."

Last week, Walt Disney Co. head honcho Michael Eisner made a rare appearance at the studio's weekly motion picture group meeting. This particular meeting, called and run by movie chief Joe Roth, was rare in and of itself since it was the first time executives from all three Disney film labels--Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures--were called together collectively.

Disney Gets 'The Horse Whisperer': In a much-watched Hollywood bidding war, Disney's Hollywood Pictures won a $3-million fight for the film rights to the book, acting on behalf of actor and filmmaker Robert Redford. The book is a first-time effort by British filmmaker Nicholas Evans. Rachel Pfeffer at Redford's Wildwood Productions was said to be instrumental in obtaining the project.

Hollywood can be a tough and skeptical town--particularly if you arrive here without a Rolodex or a road map to the lay of the land. It is peculiar in that even an industry outsider can be both a stranger in a strange land and an instant "player," just by breaking into the business in the right job. A month ago, Michael Lynton, 34, a Harvard-educated, ambitious executive from New York's literary community working for Walt Disney Co.'

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.

The movies all seem to have catchy titles with easy-to-understand themes. "Blank Check": A lonely 11-year-old boy "cashes in" on an opportunity to become very popular when an impatient crook runs over his three-speed bike and absent-mindedly leaves a blank check to cover the damage. The boy boldly fills in the check for $1 million. "My Father the Hero": A vacationing, love-struck 14-year-old girl concocts a scheme to pass her father off as her lover in order to impress the boy of her dreams.

At Disney's annual shareholders' meetings, invariably one or more conservative stockholders will stand up and whine about any of the non-family type films that slip through the Magic Kingdom's gates each year.

The movie studio that ranked at the bottom of two consecutive surveys on job opportunities for minority writers is now pursuing one of the most aggressive minority hiring programs that Hollywood has ever seen. Walt Disney Studios said it soon will announce the names of 27 writers--all of whom are African American, Latino, Asian American or women--who have been selected for a new writing fellowship program. The writers will be assigned to work with the studio's creative teams.

Ricardo Mestres is out as president of Walt Disney Co.'s Hollywood Pictures movie division, bringing an abrupt end to a six-year reign that left a string of lackluster films ranging from "Super Mario Bros." to "Swing Kids." Mestres, 36, stepped down Tuesday and was given a long-term production deal at the studio. The move was widely expected, based on long-running speculation that Disney management had grown impatient with the division's poor performance.

At Disney's annual shareholders' meetings, invariably one or more conservative stockholders will stand up and whine about any of the non-family type films that slip through the Magic Kingdom's gates each year.