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Like Captain Jack Sparrow from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, Disney movie chief Richard Ross finds himself in a bind as he searches for box-office gold this summer.
After swooping into Hollywood 18 months ago with a mandate to shake up the sleepy studio, Ross’ fortunes are now riding on two tentpole films — “Cars 2” from Disney’s Pixar and the fourth “Pirates” installment — to not only boost ticket sales but also jump-start merchandise revenue and theme-park attendance.
In his quest, Ross will need to hold his own against a summer film schedule that is jam-packed with expensive, special-effects laden sequels and remakes, including “Harry Potter,” Transformers,” “The Green Lantern,” and “X-Men,” to name a few.
Ross also is hoping two blockbusters will erase the memory of this winter’s “Mars Needs Moms,” which will go down as one of the worst financial disasters in film. Analysts expect Disney to take a $40 million writedown on the film today when it reports fiscal second-quarter results.
Kids shunned the Robert Zemeckis-produced bomb, which cost an estimated $265 million to make, market and distribute and brought in just $81 million, according to SNL Kagan.
Ross made his career at the kid-centric Disney channel, but the April 28 opening of “Prom” — an attempt to replicate the runaway success of “High School Musical” — grossed just $4.7 million in its opening weekend, according to boxofficemojo.com. Analysts had expected closer to $10 million.
” ‘Prom’ would have been right in his wheelhouse,” said RBC Capital media analyst David Bank, who doesn’t see a franchise there. Indeed, the studio boss has struggled to fire up a new franchise, including the holiday disappointment “Tron Legacy.”
“What Ross was brought on to do was to use the platform to create and better exploit Disney-owned franchises, and the first big swing at that was ‘Tron,’ ” Bank said. “I don’t think it’s being viewed as a wild success.”
Even Disney’s much-hyped 3D flick “Thor,” which was born out of its Marvel acquisition in 2009 and netted $66 million last weekend, is being considered a slow starter.
“This wasn’t the rousing start to the summer that most people expected,” said BTIG’s Richard Greenfield, who noted the low number of 3D moviegoers despite a higher number of 3D screens compared to last year.
Ross, installed by Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger as chairman of Walt Disney Studios in October 2009, has spent his tenure cleaning executives out of the Mouse House and challenging the conventional ways of doing business in Hollywood.
Ross and his head of marketing, M.T. Carney, are in Moscow for the opening of “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” which will debut in the US on May 20.
The film, starring Johnny Depp, will no doubt be a hit here and abroad but another Disney-Marvel production, “Captain America,” has analysts concerned about the appetite of foreign moviegoers for such nationalistic fare — especially as global markets now account for anywhere between a third to 50 percent of receipts. catkinson@nypost.com