The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 357

CALENDAR MOVIES DISNEY IN CHANGING TIMES Continued from First Page It is a crucial consideration. Characters and the stories which surround them are critical to Disney. They are the bedrock upon which successful films are made and the sources for millions of dollars in merchandising, television, theme parks and the like. Without them, the Disney future is at best uncertain. In the years since "Jungle Book" the studio has tried everything from friendly Volkswagens to adventurous mice, from Elliott Gould to Elliott the Dragon and not with much success.

"Jungle Book" was the last film directly supervised by the late Walt Disney. He died in 1966, the year before its release, but his involvement as anyone who knew him will tell you was total. More than any other of the men who created the motion picture industry, Disney's presence continues to be felt. His name is invoked constantly at the studio. "Walt would have done is a fre- sort of revolving series within a series.

We're also talking to CBS and ABC. We hope to branch out and be a major factor in television. We have to. "Walt taught us never to lose control," adds Miller, the late film maker's son-in-law. "Because of him, because of his influence, I second-guess myself all the time." A little over a year ago, the creative problems at the studio erupted publicly.

On Sept. 13, Don Bluth, the talented animator who many considered heir apparent to the studio's entire animation operation, resigned. Within a week, 15 others followed him. Work on "The Fox and the Hound," was nearly halted. The picture is still a good six months behind schedule, and is not due for release until July, 1981.

The animation department has a long way to go to recover, though it is now actively recruiting. "The whole animation department could have gone under at that time," says Ed Hansen, head of the department. "As it was, we made it but the release of the becomes available." The mass defections from the animation department are still a source of bitterness. "I'll be frank: It was all for the best. They were not happy and they were causing trouble," says Eric Larson, who at 75 heads the Disney training program for new animators.

"They wouldn't accept responsibility. That doesn't indicate much about them, does it? They were only interested in what they were doing outside the studio. They belittled everything being done here." "Being a Disney animator is a very special thing," says Art Stevens, supervising director of "The Fox and the Hound." "It's like a torch and it must be passed on. They weren't interested in passing anything on. You better be dedicated around here or you'll trip.

Walt used to say the minute you stop having fun animating, you better get out. He was right, as usual." "We're finding plenty of new talent," Larson adds, "and in time they'll be seasoned and have a feeling of loyalty. We're very desirous of that. Also, we lex 1 1-- n't work that way and I think they've found that out now. "It was a matter of constantly bumping up against Ron Miller and the older guys, people who wouldn't relinquish authority and who wouldn't make a decision except by committee.

It just doesn't work that way. They had some of the best talent in the world there but if a production head doesn't have talent or push, you won't make it. "I'll give you an example," Bluth continued. "Harrison Ellenshaw did some of the finest matte work in 'Star Wars' and he also worked on 'The Black Now I ask you, which film had a strong producer and which film did not? Disney was very discouraged by 'The Black We all were. "It's incredible that you can go that far in a corporation with stockholders.

But the stock is up, there have been no red lights at least not in the financial statements." George Lucas was the producer of "Star Wars" and Ron Miller was the producer of "The Black Hole." 'Black Hole' attracted only part of the audience we wanted," Miller says now. "If it had been a better picture it might have really broken through. But, quite candidly, it wasn't there. It didn't make it." The expensive space epic was the first PG Disney film. To date it has earned $30 million, domestically, well below expectations.

Unlike most studios, which depend on outside financing, the whims of stars and directors and the decisions of a number of involved people, the process of decision-making at Disney is relatively simple. Agreement among three men Miller; Card Walker, boara chairman and chief executive officer; and Donn Tatum, chairman of the executive committee can cause a picture to be made. Disney productions do not use outside financing. Tatum and especially Walker are the Disney traditionalists. It is well known at the studio that Walker flies into a rage whenever he receives a letter from a filmgoer taking exception to the infrequent "hells" and "damns" which now make it onto film at Disney.

"It's going to take some very creative people to make pictures without four-letter words or sex in them." the 65-year-old Walker insists. "I know the marketplace is changing, but that doesn't mean we have to provide things we don't approve of. I think it is possible to stay within the existing framework and make exciting pictures. My God, look what Walt did. His record for good family entertainment can't be beat.

"We can't match what's in the marketplace. Our challenge is much greater. A lot of things have got to happen. Maybe it was too easy for a while. Now we're working harder.

We've opened our thinking and we're changing. It's all there. We're lucky. We have a terrific public acceptance. Maybe we've got to stay away from contemporary urban life and stick to period stories.

I don't know, but we're looking at everything." Where audiences would once sit happily through the misadventures of a man, a boy, a colorful Volkswagen or a duck that lays gold eggs, they no longer do so now. Walt Disney was not afraid of frightening his audiences. His successors have Ron Miller, president, acknowledges "This studio is an emotional thing for Tom Wilhite, 27-year-old vice pres-that Disney films have troubles, me," says animator Eric Larson, 75. ident, is part of the new Disney. There is going to be someone out there who is going to be unhappy with the changes we'll make.

That's a risk we've got to take. -DISNEY VICE PRESIDENT TOM WILHITE oi pa quent statement by those film makers who worked with him. "What would Walt have done?" is asked by those who came later. Disney was a film-making genius, a man who understood character and story. He was also ruthlessly ambitious and a cunning businessman.

Long before others perceived it, he understood the influence of television, knew what it could do for Disney. He saw it as a means for keeping the Disney name and characters before an audience of millions, a way to lure them into his theme parks and his movies. It was a strategy that worked brilliantly. But no longer. The shortage of new and good material at Disney has shown up on its long-running Sunday night television hour.

"We're trying to save it," Miller says of the show. "The ratings are very poor. This may be the last year for any sort of anthology show. We're discussing a concept called 'The Wheel' with NBC now, a want discipline. But then maybe I'm the wrong person to ask.

This studio is an emotional thing for me. I've never even asked for a raise." It is an emotional thing with Don Bluth as well. He has formed his own company Don Bluth Productions and has staffed it heavily with Disney defectors. He is far into the production of his company's first feature, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH," an animated film being financed by Aurora Productions, a privately held company run by Jim Stewart, a former Disney vice president who quit the company in 1978.

Bluth's company already occupies two stories of a Studio City building and is considering expanding. "The thing that would help Disney the most is to have a living prophet," Bluth says, "not a committee. They need somebody who knows and cares about animation. They won't roll up their sleeves and plunge in like Walt did. They want to hire somebody to do it.

Well, it just does film has been delayed. We lost half our creative staff." The next major problem came several months later when the studio released the live-action "Watcher in the Woods," a ghost story which was expected to generate considerable revenue through this last summer. The film was given a benefit premiere and opened in New York, where both audiences and critics hooted it off the screen. In a move virtually unprecedented among major studios. Disney yanked the film out of distribution and announced it would be shooting a new ending.

"I think that took a lot of courage," says Tom Leach, producer of the film. "Everybody like it until the ending. We were so high on the fact that it had a giant twist. In the end, that's what did us in it was too jolting. It is going to cost several hundred thousand dollars to do it, but we've chosen a new ending and we're going to re -shoot it, once the dust from the strike settles down and everybody 2 oi a uj UJ.