The Mouse House is bringing in a top feature film executive to help steer its live-action theatrical slate. 

As the new president of Disney Live Action – Theatrical, Daria Cercek (pictured) is tasked with driving the development and production of original films, as well as features based on the studio’s existing trove of legacy characters. She’ll report to David Greenbaum, who has spent the past year as president of Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios—a role he took over during a leadership shuffle in early 2024 that saw film exec Sean Bailey exit after a 15-year tenure at Disney. 

Sam Dickerman (EVP of production), Allison Erlikhman (SVP of production) and Jessica Virtue (SVP of production) will now report to Cercek, who will be starting at her new role on March 3.

Cercek is coming off a stint as co-president of Paramount Pictures’ Motion Picture Group alongside Michael Ireland—a position she held since 2021. She helped drive the company’s growth in ticket sales in a post-pandemic landscape, working with Ireland to oversee releases like the live-action/CG-animated family pic IF, the musical Mean Girls reboot and most recently, the sequel feature Sonic the Hedgehog 3. She also worked at top film companies including New Line Cinema (EVP of production and development) and 20th Century Fox (SVP of production and development).

Cercek joins Disney at a time when it’s scaling up its live-action film releases as a strategy to refresh classic animated franchises—an approach that has found varying levels of success. The next live-action release—a take on Snow White—will hit theaters next month, followed by a live-action version of Lilo & Stitch launching in May. Disney will also be releasing Freakier Friday (the sequel to the 2003 family comedy Freaky Friday) in August, while a live-action adaptation of its juggernaut IP Moana is scheduled for 2026.