The state of things was made clear today with the announcement that Miramax President Daniel Battsek would be stepping down. His decision came after news in recent weeks that Miramax headquarters would be moved from NYC to LA and that the company would scale back its annual release slate to three pictures, which is to say the functional equivalent of no pictures.

The shake-up ends the recent decades of dabbling all over the map for Disney and now leaves the independent film world decimated down to its core, with Fox Searchlight, Focus and Sony Classics the only major specialty units still moving at full steam following the departures or diminishments of New Line and , Paramount Vantage.

NOTE: A previous version of this mistakenly item listed Focus Features in the diminished list. We are delighted to learn that Focus is alive and well.

After hearing the news of Cook's departure on September 18, Depp said that his participation in the fourth film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides—which is tentatively scheduled for 2011 and will make more booty for the studio than J.Lo has when she's retaining water weight—hinged on the quality of the script and his passion for the project. ""There's a fissure, a crack in my enthusiasm at the moment. [The franchise] was all born in [Dick Cook's] office," he told the L.A. Times, hinting that he would not return now that Cook was gone.

Well, Depp is already back walking the plank. A spokesperson from Disney said that Captain Jack Sparrow will not be recast for the movie.

So, guess that goes to show you just how long taking a stand lasts in Hollywood: ten days, give or take. But you have to cut them a break here. I mean, we're all for taking stands, but not expecting a man not to make a fourth Pirates movie — we can't all be Mohandas Gandhi!

And Hollywood hates surprises.

The genial Cook who began his Mouse career as a Disneyland ride operator gave little reason for his decision, merely saying "I have been contemplating this for some time now and feel it's the right time for me to move on to new adventures … and in the words of one of my baseball heroes, Yogi Berra, 'If you come to a fork in the road, take it.'" But Friday night, the town and the internet were abuzz with speculation focusing on Disney Boss Robert Iger's unhappiness with the studio's recent lackluster performance.

Variety's quasi-official rendition noted, "The studio's most recent movies, like "Race to Witch Mountain," "Bedtime Stories" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic" have been disappointments and CEO Bob Iger expressed unhappiness with the studio's slate in a conference call with Wall Street analysts in May."

The LA Times repeated this theme adding, "Internally, Iger was growing increasingly frustrated with Cook's management style, people familiar with the situation said, citing Cook's tendency to play his cards close to the vest."

The LA Times also captured the despair of Johnny Depp, star of Disney's Pirates films. In the item, Depp "said his enthusiasm for a fourth Pirates movie has waned with the news of Cook's exit." Hard to imagine that anyone's enthusiasm for the tiredest mess of a franchise currently afloat could ever wane, but without the right man in the front office, somehow the fun of robbing hundreds of millions of film fans of their popcorn money loses its luster.

Nikki Finke, just "out of the hospital" claims the story as an "exclusive." And indeed her item is timestamped 5:03, so if the stamp is accurate, it was posted a good five minutes before five minutes before Variety's and a full 14 minutes before the LA Times' piece. So for five minutes, Nikki Finke readers were the only people in America who knew about Cook's departure, and presumably the executive who will be named his replacement used that critical window to maneuver brilliantly, sending Robert Iger a fruit basket and a card telling him how much he loves Willow's Huff Post Living Now section, while the Variety reading executives sat at their desks clearing off another game of mine sweeper.

Nikki adds the news that Cook was "blindsided" by the firing, and morally outraged that it would come on Rosh Hashanah. She also adds Steven Speilberg, who just moved his production company to Disney, to the list of people who are very, very upset. Nikki says the news is "playing very badly" on the Disney lot. And you know what happens to news that plays badly on the Disney lot...Well, nothing actually.

The Wrap assures us that Oren Aviv, President of Buena Vista will not be Cook's replacement, and speculates that either Pixar Chief John Lasseter may be positioned for another step up the ladder.

Hoping to become more of a superhero power player in Hollywood, Warner Bros. has been quietly reorganizing its comic arm, DC Comics, to focus its energies on blockbuster hits. They claim they've been working on this for months, but Disney's announcement that it was buying Marvel accelerated things a bit.

Warner had intended to announce details about its plans for DC Comics in January, as it begins a 75th anniversary celebration of the DC brand, Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive of Warner, said in an interview.

But the Disney announcement resulted in so many questions about the possibly heightened competition "that it would have been disingenuous for us to suggest that we had not been thinking about it." He added that the Marvel-Disney announcement "reconfirmed in us our strong belief in how valuable DC really is."

That remains to be seen. While, yes, DC has the strong Batman franchise and, to a far lesser degree, a burgeoning Superman series, it's also unleashed a slew of stinkers, like Catwoman and Watchmen, which failed to live up to its potential. Marvel, meanwhile, had the X-Men trilogy, keeps rolling out Spider-Man flicks, made three Blade movies, Iron Man and will no doubt make a splash with the forthcoming Thor, Avengers and Wolverine 2 big screen adventures.

DC will have to look mighty hard for characters who can stand up to Marvel's icons. Our suggestion? Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Why, oh why, has that not been adapted?

Image via Madolan's flickr.

More important than printing comics (which, they actually still do!), Marvel is valuable for the merchandising and movie rights to all its characters—over 5,000—many of which have become the massive film franchises that are the lifeblood of the movie studios. The only two studios that aren't dependent on Marvel for summer tentpoles are Disney and Warner Bros. (which bought out DC Comics and its stable of characters including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman). Paramount has Iron Man, Sony's long been living off Spider-Man, 20th Century Fox lives and dies by how many X-Men,Wolverine, or Fantastic Four films it can spin out and Universal would like you to like The Hulk.

All of a sudden, those studios have just discovered that Disney may be in control of their summer fates. Welcome to your new groveling life, studio executives.

The happy happening will go down at the massive, 800,000 square foot Anaheim Convention Center and will feature all things Disney, including much lauding of Tim Burton's highly anticipated — we can't wait! - Alice and Wonderland. While that's all well and good, Disney president and chief executive Robert Iger hopes the event will help persuade "very ardent" fans to flock to the company's wide-ranging products:

We live in a world where digital communication enables people to express their opinions about things to a much broader set of people. We call it the combustion of digital world of mouth... Their ability to communicate with others is unlike anything we've seen at any time before.

Translation: "We want to make sure the little buggers don't use twitter against us, as they have others." Yes, the D23 Expo may sound simply like a company-specific Comic-Con, but it's far more than that: it's so much more than that. Disney crazed masses can also join "a high-end, elite-level access" fan club.

So, what does membership cost you? $75-a-year. Now, tell us: who on this green planet of ours, in this recession of ours, would shell out that kind of money simply to get into a glorified trade show that doesn't feature comics?

[Image via Getty]

Replacing Lyons and Mankiewicz as hosts of the long-running show, formerly hosted by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, will be A.O. Scott of the New York Times and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, two men widely respected in the world of film criticism who have both served as fill-ins on the show in the past.

As the LA Times Patrick Goldstein notes, Ben Mankiewicz wasn't all that bad, but it appears as though he was brought down by the tremendous weight of Lyons' Herculean suckage.

To be fair, Mankiewicz, the scion of a fabled Hollywood family who hosts Turner Classic Movies presentations, was clearly more knowledgeable than his counterpart. As my colleague Chris Lee reported last December, Lyons, son of film critic Jeffrey Lyons, was held in such low esteem in the critical fraternity that others in the profession were lining up, happy to be quoted by name ridiculing his work, with Chicago-based film critic Erik Childress saying of Lyons: "He has no taste. Everyone thinks he's a joke."

So how awful was Ben Lyons? This awful:

You know what hurts a movie like Max Payne is the success of the Batman franchise. That obviously is about story and character so they think for all films of the genre it's gotta be about story and character and this whole backstory of him losing his wife. I don't care about that. I wanna see Max Payne shoot people. That's all I want from a movie like this.

Film lovers of the America rejoice — your own personal long national nightmare is finally over! But what will now become of the "Stop Ben Lyons" blog?

Plus ABC Family! So, phew, you can finally catch up on Greek. (No, really, you should.)

This also makes CBS the only major network to not host any content on the site, because they have a deal with TV.com and old people are bewildered by the internet anyway.

Hulu still comes in third in video site viewership, behind MySpace and YouTube, but in quality, it's so totally the best. And we're not even shilling! We actually enjoy it and use it. Go figure.

[TheWrap]

Oh good for you Carrie, girl! Chris Noth aka Mr. Big aka John James Preston has signed on to be in the next Sex and the City movie. So I guess that means he and Carrie have stayed together. Do I hear the pitter-patter of little Manolo-clad feet? (Hm, sort of!) [Variety]

Disney has picked up the comedy Boss about a dad whose 21-year-old son somehow becomes his, um, boss. Wasn't this movie already sorta made with Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid? Ah well. Expect some sadsack like Tim Allen to get involved and then some shitty little shit to play the little shit. [Variety]

Because disease is very dangerous in spaceships, Star Trek has delayed its Mexican release date due to the swine flu outbreak. [Variety]

Slow and steady actor Danny Huston has signed on to play Poseidon, god of the sea, in the new Clash of the Titans remake. Scottish actor Kevin McKidd is also playing Poseidon soon, this time for the Chris Columbus directed comedy Percy Jackson. It's reported that in both movies there's a volcano that erupts and then a meteor hits earth while Truman Capote looks on bemusedly. [THR]

Jeffery Katzenberg announced the strongest first quarter ever for his DreamWorks Animation, and that he'd be staying on as CEO for another four years. Hits at DreamWorks have included Monsters vs. Aliens, Bee Movie, and the Madagascar franchise. You know, all the not-Pixar ones. [THR]

That's why we at Defamer are always eager to pass along cost-efficient, stress-reducing services geared towards Hollywood's hardworking and high-powered men (and sometimes women, but not today, sorry girls). Look no further, pent-up-eroonies!

NOONER b/j !!!!!!!!!!!!! - 49 (bURBANK)
Reply to: redacted
Date: 2009-02-10, 11:49AM PST

Any Warner Brothers or Disney Execs
up for an AWESOME blow job this afternoon!?!?!?
I am on my knees to please sirs.
lets do it!!!!!!!!!!!!
You deserve it NOW!

Perhaps this could be the perfect opportunity to commemorate the DreamWorks/Disney distribution deal, with representatives from each studio—one in mouse ears, the other holding a fishing rod—availing themselves simultaneously of the Craigslist poster's services in a symbolic coming together as one.

• NOONER b/j !!!!!!!!!!!!! - 49 (bURBANK) [Craigslist]

—The announcement arrived this morning, with Disney slotting six 'Works films per year, as per its usual. The first will arrive next year under the Touchstone banner, and Disney has committed to fronting P&A costs that provided one of several sticking points in the ongoing negotiations with its previous suitors at Universal.

—Regarding that relationship, Kim Masters's Daily Beast survey notes swaths of scorched earth trailing Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider after months of failed negotiations with Uni boss Ron Meyer. Aside from the outstanding $250 million loan that DreamWorks needed to close the deal (which GE offered it after first denying it) and the dearth of HBO slots for DreamWorks films (which Universal had withheld throughout the process before finally offering two of its annual six), there was Meyer's unhappy discovery that the 'Works had in fact been secretly dealing with Disney:

When [Meyer] found out that DreamWorks was in fact talking to Disney, he got on the phone with DreamWorks chief executive Stacey Snider and said she and Spielberg had behaved "like pigs" (as has been reported elsewhere). Other words, like "despicable and deplorable," have also been used.

—Who even cares about Meyer at this point, asks David Poland: "If that's DreamWorks' biggest problem in the next years, they will be dancing in the streets." And anyway, maybe Universal — which already has Brian Grazer's four films per year — is better off standing alone without having to tend to DreamWorks' release slate as well. Cheer up, Ron!

—Plus there's still the matter of DreamWorks Animation, whose industrial traction is improving along with its stock price. The NYT today has both long and short views, neither of which come close to hinting where it might end up in a climate where desperate studios need the soundest cash machine they can get their hands on. And last we checked, Pixar wasn't going anywhere at Disney.

—And just our own nagging question around Defamer HQ: Does DreamWorks' entrance at Disney mean Miramax's eventual exit? And if so, who gets Scott Rudin? We be happy to temporarily set him up here if necessary; the basement cubicles are actually pretty spacious. Just let us know.

Disney recently issued this release for all those female NHL fans who might be in the market for a hot new romcom and the ultimate public humilation"

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC Ice Block Challenge

WHO: New Jersey Devils' female fans

WHEN: Saturday, February 7, 2009
5:30PM-6:30PM (Pre-Game)

WHAT: With only a high heel shoe as their tool, two women will each try to break through a block of ice to win a $102 gift card to Mandee.

Poor, poor Isla.

• 'Confession of a Shopaholic' Ice Block Challenge [Reuters PR Wire]

As you see, it's eggs. With Disney characters stamped on the shells. Possibly selling at a markup. Is this some kind of tie-in to a movie, or further proof of the evils of agribusiness and the coming apocalypse? And while marketers obviously want to trick kids into believing that the plain old eggs are going to come out magically Mickey-shaped, we want to know: 1. Do the eggs come with the mold? 2. How much does said mold cost? 3. Does egg actually seep out from under edges of said mold, rendering shape unrecognizable, as has been the case in all our experiments with whimsical egg-shapery? The only way I can see this strangely low-fi "new product" swaying any egg-hater is if you give them something shell-on, ie hard-boiled or soft-cooked. Even then, any kid is quickly going to get wise to the fact that it's just a plain old egg, but a prancing Donald Duck might buy you a reluctant bite or two.

Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 10:21 AM
Subject: Business Update

Team:

After months of making hard decisions across our businesses to help us adjust to a weakening economy, we’re now faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate jobs in some areas.

This was not an easy decision, nor one made lightly. The people affected today are our friends and colleagues, and we are doing all we can for them and their families during what we know will be a difficult transition.

Change is never easy, and becomes even harder to embrace during times of turbulence and uncertainty. With that in mind, I’ve asked each business leader to reach out to their group with more information on this announcement as soon as possible.

I realize this is an extremely difficult day for everyone in our group. But despite the challenges before us, I remain confident and optimistic about our future, because you really are the best team in the business.

Anne

• Disney-ABC TV to cut 400 jobs [Variety]

The two sides are still working out budget and script issues, but the hope is to shoot the film at the end of summer for a holiday 2010 release through the Fox Walden label...The Century City studio seems to be an ideal fit for the "Narnia" books given that it's been looking for a family-friendly, lit-based franchise for years — Fox 2000's "Eragon" failed to catch on with audiences and died after one installment.

Fox and Walden will split production and P&A costs for "Dawn Treader," which is projected to go into production at a $140 million budget. That's considerably less than the $215 million or so spent on last year's "Prince Caspian," which was considered something of a box office disappointment as compared with the first "Narnia" pic, 2005's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" ($419 million vs. $745 million worldwide, respectively).

Still, "Caspian," which is considered the least commercially appealing of the seven C.S. Lewis "Narnia" novels, ranked No. 10 in global box office performance last year.

OK, first of all: Caspian is the "least commercially appealing of the seven novels"? Apparently Variety is all too willing to gobble the Fox line, as there are way more expendable novels coming up (A Horse and His Boy, anyone?) and Caspian had the virtue of reuniting the first film's four child stars, something no other installment does.

Also, citing Fox's misfire with Eragon is a bit disingenuous, as that trifle actually performed decently: almost $250 million worldwide on a $100 million budget for a glorified Sci-Fi channel TV-movie. Variety should have instead chosen to highlight Fox's most recent massacre, the botch job it did to the Dark is Rising franchise. Americanized and retitled The Seeker, the 2007 kickoff installment grossed a stunningly low $31 million. Yes, that includes worldwide. Citing that project, though, would have shone a spotlight on Fox's fanboy-infuriating development practices.

(Still, there's at least one silver lining: Variety says that Eustace in Treader will be played by Will Poulter of the delightful, child-friendly Son of Rambow. Anything that might bring more eyes to this underappreciated modern classic, the better.)

• Fox to develop 'Narnia' [Variety]

Eventually, the Narnia franchise was always going to present something of a challenge to put on film. Though it contains seven books, just like Potter, it's hard to imagine that Disney would ever bankroll a $200 million production of a novel as flimsy as The Horse and His Boy. And though we would have loved to see the studio deal with some of the crazy situations served up in the series' apocalyptic final book (like the premise that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe's dear, sweet Susan can't get into Heaven because she committed the cardinal sin of wearing lipstick and is thus no longer a "friend of Narnia"), we suppose we'll just have to stave off those hopes unless Fox picks the franchise up and guides it to its moralizing conclusion.

Still, it should have been clear this was coming: Disney had long ago readied Michael Apted to begin pre-production on Steven Knight's adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the series's third book), then remained conspicuously quiet on the matter after the first sequel, Prince Caspian, performed below expectations. Here's the thing, though: the fizzling of Prince Caspian was all Disney's fault.

One of the perils of adapting the Narnia series is that the four original, much-loved children from Wardrobe don't stick around for many further installments. However, they still remain in Caspian — so why didn't Disney choose to advertise that fact instead of putting franchise newcomer Ben Barnes (as Caspian) front and center in its advertising campaign (left)? With the trailers' high emphasis on action, CG battles, and a generic hero and villain, it came off as Eragon 2 instead of the continuation of a family franchise.

Disney also erred in its choice of release date for Caspian. The original, religion-tinged Wardrobe cleaned up in a Christmas-adjacent December slot where it eventually grossed almost five times its opening weekend figure—a practically unheard-of multiplier for such an enormous film. However, Disney tossed Caspian to the wolves in its summer slot this year: no religious holidays, an unusually family-friendly slate of competition that wedged it right in between Iron Man and Indy, and a brutal landscape of screen turnover that allowed it little chance of retaining its multiplier (even the leggy Iron Man only grossed triple its opening weekend). Perhaps Disney was rushing the film, or perhaps they were afraid of going up against the Harry Potter sequel that was originally scheduled for this winter, but it's hard to argue that the studio wouldn't have found more success with Caspian right now.

Good job screwing up a good thing, Disney. Now we'll never get to see that hot centaur spinoff featuring James McAvoy!

• Disney jumps ship on next 'Narnia' [THR]

Part of High School Musical line of Christmas decorations, every Troy Bolton collectible tin ornament is filled with delicious fruity candy, and, paired with the locker ornament that plays "We're All In This Together" when opened (an actual product) and an Ashley Tisdale topper angel, will make for an HSM-themed tree that will be the envy of the neighborhood.

A full list of winners is after the jump.

Best Picture:
"Wall-E"
Runner-up: "The Dark Knight"

Best Director:
Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"
Runner-up: Christopher Nolan, "The Dark Knight"

Best Actor:
Sean Penn, "Milk"
Runner-up: Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"

Best Actress:
Sally Hawkins, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Runner-up: Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"

Best Supporting Actor:
Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"
Runner-up: Eddie Marsan, "Happy-Go-Lucky"

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and "Elegy"
Runner-up: Viola Davis, "Doubt"

Best Screenplay: Mike Leigh, "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Runner-up: Charlie Kaufman, "Synecdoche, New York"

Best Foreign-language film: "Still Life"
Runner-up: "The Class"

Best Documentary: "Man on Wire"
Runner-up: "Waltz With Bashir"

Best Animation: "Waltz With Bashir"

Best Cinematography: Yu Lik Wai, "Still Life"
Runner-up: Anthony Dod Mantle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Best Production Design: Mark Friedberg, "Synecdoche, New York"
Runner-up: Nathan Crowley, "The Dark Knight"

Best Music/score: A.R. Rahman, "Slumdog Millionaire"
Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

New Generation: Steve McQueen, "Hunger"

• AWARDS WATCH '08 | "Wall-E" Woos LA Critics [IndieWire]
• 'WALL-E' cruises to top of L.A. critics' list [THR]

1. Find Joe Jonas a comb. Easily the best-looking of the three, Joe is nevertheless pinned at the top of the steps, 15 yards from the camera with his hair blowing in his face. If Kevin called "front" on the basis of seniority, fine, but at least mix in some Photoshop and give us the cute one, too.

2. Commission a live-performance shot. We know these guys don't play live that often, have few fans and are underphotographed in general, but Disney should consider promoting their concert film with an actual image of the boys performing. Think U2 Rattle and Hum or Eddie Murphy Raw. ESPECIALLY Eddie Murphy Raw.

3. Get a real plane. Just because the Jonas Brothers are tiny little things who travel without groupies doesn't mean they have to squeeze into their little brother's discarded toy Gulfstream. Take Led Zeppelin for example — remember the Starship, on which they traveled during their 1973 and 1975 tours? That was a rock n' roll plane.

4. Do Louis Vuitton or Hobo Chic, not both. These guys aren't the Jonas Brothers; they're a cleaning crew about to be arrested for ripping off the Jonas entourage.

5. Add Jonathan Jaxson. There's no excuse for the omission of Disney's greatest asset. No. Excuse.

• Exclusive Poster for 'Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience' [Moviefone]