Mar 4, 2024

Sean Bailey, who led the era of Disney's live-action and photorealistic animation adaptations, has left the company

Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Film Studios, the executive who led the charge of adapting many titles from Disney's animation catalog as live・action and photorealistic animation features, announced that he would leave the company.

Soon and effectively, Searchlight co-president David Greenbaum assumes a newly created role as president of Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios, assuming many of Bailey's previous responsibilities.

Bailey has been a Disney VET for 15 years and his first project at the company was Tron: Legacy in 2010. Closing the circle of his career in the company, Bailey will remain as a producer through the completion of Joachim Lenin's "Tron: Ares".

Of his departure, Bailey told Deadline:

These 15 years at Disney have been an incredible journey, but the time has come for a new chapter. I am deeply grateful to my exceptional team and proud of the slate and history we have built together. I joined Disney during the production of Tron:Legacy, so it seems fitting to have the opportunity to leave and work on the latest Tron. I wish Bob Iger, Alan Bergman and all my great colleagues the best for a bright future.

Bailey is a box office hitmaker for Disney, and during his time at the company, it has won most awards such as the Lion King ($1.66 billion at the global box office), Beauty and the Beast (1.12 billion), Aladdin (1.105 billion) and the Jungle Book (9.962 million). The iconic 2d animation produced some very profitable live-action and photorealistic animated adaptations of Disney titles. Films made under his watch grossed about770 billion.

Acknowledging Bailey's exit, Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman said:

Sean has been a very important member of the studio's creative team for more than a decade. He and his team have brought iconic stories and moments to the screen that will please fans around the world and stand the test of time. I know he will continue to do great things.

When Disney+ was launched in 2019, Bailey's responsibilities expanded to include supervision of live-action products for the platform. Shortly thereafter, the studio embarked on a string of unforgettable streaming native live-action features, some with Lady and Trump, Peter Pan & Wendy, the Little Mermaid that last year the company made収益5.6960 billion worldwide in revenue. That's a decent enough figure, but nothing compared to the sum the live-action adaptation used to pull in. It is not yet known whether the moderate box office will return, and whether the outgoing executives will show a change in Disney's adaptation strategy.