Oct. 6--The loud thuds heard throughout Hollywood on Monday were the sounds of the other shoes dropping, as Universal and Disney studios made changes in the executive suites of their movie-making business.

Universal Pictures announced the ouster of co-Chairs Marc Shmuger and David Linde, who have been wearing virtual bullseyes on the backs of their designer suits for most of the year. They're being replaced with Adam Fogelson, the studio's president of marketing and distribution, and Donna Langley, Universal's president of production.

"Adam is a natural leader with a unique ability to anticipate our audience, understand our business and collaborate with our filmmakers to give us a competitive advantage," Universal President and COO Ron Meyer said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Rich Ross, president of Disney Channels Worldwide, was named to replace company veteran Dick Cook as movie studio chief. Cook was unceremoniously removed two weeks ago.

"Rich has an outstanding record of creating high-quality family entertainment that delights audiences around the world," said Robert Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Co.

"With his success in building the Disney brand across many of our businesses, his astute marketing sensibility, his proven ability in working effectively with talent and his skill at navigating complex global markets, I'm confident he's the perfect leader for our studio group."

The choice of Ross -- who has been instrumental in selling all kinds of Miley Cyrus and "High School Musical" merchandise -- is nothing if not consistent.

Last week, Disney announced that its arthouse arm, Miramax Films, will be drastically cutting staff and movie output starting next year. That and Ross' elevation to the live-action studio's chairmanship indicates that the family entertainment conglomerate is less interested than ever in adult drama, the iffiest sector of the current movie business.

Moving Ross over from the TV division also ensures stability in Disney's other film departments: the kid-friendly animation operation run by Pixar's John Lasseter and the recently acquired, adolescent boy-friendly Marvel Entertainment.

Both Lasseter and Marvel's Kevin Feige were rumored to be possible replacements for Cook. So was Stacey Snider, a former Universal Studios boss who now runs Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks, which signed a distribution deal with Disney earlier this year.

Back at Snider's old offices, although they oversaw Universal's two most profitable years (2007 and 2008) in their 3<md+,%30,%55,%70>1/<md-,%0,%55,%70>2-year regime, Shmuger and Linde only seemed able to do one thing right in 2009: release the gearhead reboot "Fast and Furious."

Other than that, they've mainly been blamed for making too many good, adult-skewing movies -- "Duplicity," "State of Play," "Public Enemies," "Bruno," "Funny People"- that not enough of the gearhead audience wanted to see.

Even the as-dumb-as-they-come "Land of the Lost" couldn't entice the necessary droves of lowest-common-denominator ticket buyers and became Universal's biggest loser in 2009.

With the studio's owner, General Electric, in talks to sell 51 percent of NBC Universal to the cable giant Comcast, it's a safe bet that the new Fogelson administration will be trying to impress the future bosses -- and the best way to do that, in Hollywood think, is to make that lowest-common-denominator equation work.

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