Alan F. Horn

Alan Frederick Horn (born February 28, 1943) is an American entertainment industry executive. He is the Chief creative officer and co-chairman of Walt Disney Studios. Horn has served as the chairman of Walt Disney Studios since 2012.

Personal life
Horn was raised in a Jewish family on Long Island, New York in Riverhead. He graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York, in 1964. In 1971, he received a MBA from Harvard Business School. He was a captain in the United States Air Force.

Horn currently lives in the East Gate Bel Air section of Los Angeles, California, with his wife, Cindy Horn (née Harrell), a former model. They have two daughters, actress Cody Horn and Cassidy Horn.

Career
Horn served in various positions at 20th Century Fox and at Norman Lear's television production companies, Tandem Productions and Embassy Communications. He was also one of the founders of Castle Rock Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner. There, he oversaw films including A Few Good Men, The Green Mile, When Harry Met Sally, and the TV sitcom Seinfeld.

Horn became President and COO of Warner Bros. in 1999, where he ran the studio in partnership with Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer for 12 years. Under Horn's leadership, Warner Bros. had many hits, including the Harry Potter series and Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. He was also the executive producer of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. At age 68, Horn was forced to retire as President and COO of Warner Bros., at the behest of Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Bewkes who wanted to groom younger talent to take over at the studio, with Meyer relinquishing his role as studio CEO in March 2013 to be succeeded by Kevin Tsujihara.

In 2012, at the urging of The Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO Bob Iger, Horn was lured out of retirement to become Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, replacing Rich Ross who was dismissed after conflicts with Pixar executives. Horn established a successful working relationship with Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Fox which operated with great autonomy under Disney's overall ownership, while also overseeing strong box office releases from Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios.

In 2017, he said of his past professional success: "I have this ... theory that whoever is working in a job deserves to stay ... unless they prove that they don't deserve to be in the job."

In 2018, following a Twitter campaign created by alt-right personality Mike Cernovich, Horn fired James Gunn from directing Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 over offensive old tweets and "vocal political posts," causing backlash from fans and franchise actors, especially Dave Bautista. With no plan of how to fill the vacancy, production of the film was delayed to February 2021. Horn met with Gunn several times after his firing, and, as announced in March 2019, rehired him.

On May 1, 2019, Alan Horn was given the added title of Chief creative officer (CCO) of Walt Disney Studios. He continues to oversee the studio as co-chairman, alongside Alan Bergman.