After a decade of antagonizing filmmakers, genre movie fans and a sporadic level of quality releases, Tom Rothman finally departed as Co-Chairman of 20th Century Fox.  While Rothman and Jim Gianapolous (who stays on as solo Chairman) quietly allowed Fox Searchlight to become an indie and art house powerhouse, they constantly raised eyebrows with Fox's big films and, at times, disastrous marketing campaigns. Jim Cameron's "Avatar" covered up some of Rothman's creative mistakes, but the long legacy of unpopular franchises like "Fantastic Four" and "Daredevil" (which the studio found itself forced to relinquish the rights back to Marvel a few months ago) and bombs such as "The Sitter," "The Watch," "Won't Back Down," "This is War" and the bloated "Life of Pi" finally came back to haunt him. Whether Gianopolous can steady the ship in Rothman's absence remains to be seen.

[Left, Tom Rothman with Ang Lee at the world premiere of "Life of Pi" at the 2012 New York Film Festival.]