Disney Replaces Chief Creative Officer of Animation

There’s been a major shakeup behind the scenes at Disney.

Effective immediately, the company’s animation studio has a new chief creative officer. It’s Jared Bush, who co-wrote and co-directed Zootopia and wrote Moana. Bush also co-wrote and directed Encanto, Disney’s last animated mega-hit.

Bush takes over for Jennifer Lee, who has been Disney animation’s chief creative officer since the summer of 2018, when she replaced John Lasseter. Lee is best known as the director of Frozen and Frozen II. She will now focus her attention on the upcoming Frozen III (and Frozen IV after that).

Per The Hollywood Reporter, during Lee’s time as chief creative officer “the storied animation studio suffered major misses, including 2022’s Strange World and last year’s Wish. But she wasn’t without her wins: Encanto won an Oscar and was a major commercial success after finding its groove.” That said, Bush was surely more involved with the success of Encanto than Lee, as its co-director and writer.

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Although Disney’s animated track record has been hit or miss lately, the company is currently in the midst of its best year in recent memory. Both of the biggest films of the year — Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine — are Disney releases, albeit from other division of the company (Pixar and Marvel, respectively.)

The last Disney animated feature, 2023’s Wish, was intended to celebration 100 years of Walt Disney animation, but got very mixed reviews and only grossed about $250 million worldwide against a reported budget of around $200 million. And that followed Strange World, which was an even bigger flop.

The next Disney animated feature will almost certainly improve on those numbers. It’s Moana 2, which is scheduled to premiere in theaters on November 27. Bush co-wrote that film as well.