Disney film boss steps down after losing €150m on sci-fi flop

Rich Ross, chairman of Walt Disney Co’s film unit, has resigned following the company’s $200m (€150m) loss on the science-fiction picture John Carter, possibly the biggest ever for a single movie.

The departure of Mr Ross, 50, who ran the division since Oct 2009 and had previously led the Disney Channel, was announced yesterday in a statement. A successor was not named.

Disney chief executive Robert Iger’s strategy of producing fewer films, built around marketable characters such as those from its Pixar and Marvel units, faltered with the failure of John Carter. The movie will lead to a quarterly loss of as much as $120m (€90m) for the studio, the first since Mr Ross succeeded Dick Cook as chairman.