Horn in at Disney

COME BLOW YOUR HORN: Former Warner Bros. President Alan Horn has been named Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, succeeding Rich Ross, who was forced out in April. Horn will begin June 1, overseeing the production, distribution and marketing of live-action and animated films from Disney, Pixar and Marvel. Horn reluctantly left Warner Bros. last year, squeezed out to make room for a new generation of managers. While running Warner’s movie operation, he drafted the blueprint for an operating strategy that focused on effects-filled event pictures, or “tent poles,” that resonate overseas. Along with the Harry Potter franchise, Horn’s hits include The Perfect Storm, 300, The Departed, Happy Feet, Ocean’s Eleven, Sherlock Holmes and The Dark Knight. Ross, whose experience was entirely in television before his appointment, was let go in March after less than three years on the job after the failures of big budget films John Carter and Mars Needs Moms. (5/31p)