Scott Rudin moves from Paramount to Disney, possibly to run Miramax (15777)

Openly gay superproducer Scott Rudin--whose hit films include School of Rock, The Hours, Clueless, The Firm, Sister Act, and The Royal Tenenbaums--is leaving his longtime perch at Paramount Pictures for the Walt Disney Co., reports the Los Angeles Times. It is expected that Rudin will take over Disney's art-house division, Miramax, following the recent departure of Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein. Rudin confirmed to the Times Monday that his five-year production deal at Disney would give the studio first look on all his projects, which could be distributed through any of the company's three shingles (Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, and Miramax Films).

Rudin, 46, has been one of the industry's more colorful figures, balancing crowd-pleasers like The Addams Family; South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut; and The First Wives Club with riskier films like The Truman Show, Wonder Boys, and Searching for Bobby Fischer. While he has been responsible for some of Paramount's biggest hits of the last 15 years, 2004 was more valley than peak with the box-office disappointments of two remakes: The Stepford Wives and The Manchurian Candidate. Rudin's departure from Paramount is part of a general shake-up at the studio, with chairwoman Sherry Lansing and Viacom chief Jonathan Dolgen, both allies of Rudin, departing over the last year. Rudin's current projects include screen adaptations of four best sellers: Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Ian McEwan's Saturday.