Warner Bros. Motion Picture heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abedi’s last day will be next Tuesday, which is essentially the first day of Skydance, the new Paramount Warner Bros. merger.
The move ends months of speculation over whether the pair would make the leap into a new merger, as the box office slump resulted in a domestic gross of $448.4M for the January 1-October 1 period, which is well short of last year’s $4.3B milestone, not to mention this weekend’s Tom Cruise’s $125M-$160M+ bomb. digger, Which would be lucky to even open to $10M domestic.
There were some insiders who were skeptical about De Luca and Abdi. For both, we’re told, they were stunned and upset to learn of their fate from last night’s report without receiving a phone call from Skydance co-CEO David Ellison. They were expected to move at least as well to the new joint studios as they did to the new Amazon MGM studios. The assumption was that De Luca and Abdi would continue to oversee the editing, filmmaker relations, marketing and distribution of the prized 39 older films they are distributing for the new merger, which will have 70 films released between this weekend and 2029. A dinner between the two and Alison months ago provided optimism, we hear.
Ellison finally met with De Luca and Abdi today to deliver the news he had read in the press. A decision by the cost-controlling co-CEO in his quest to pay off debt to keep his current Paramount Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein in charge of not only the Melrose lot, but all Warner Bros. theater brands. This structure does not match the existing terms of De Luca and Abdi’s WBD contract, which runs until 2030, with both reporting to the CEO, with marketing and distribution also reporting to him.
So what now?
Alisson has to pay the contracts of De Luca and Abdi.
But wait, what about all the places De Luca and Abdi should go?
For now, sources say he will rest, relax and work again. Neither have any competing offers from other studios. From what we’ve heard, he intends to remain a partner while simultaneously heading a fully theatrical-driven motion picture studio.
There have been rumors about him eyeing production jobs at Netflix and Sony. The two are social with other studio bosses in town, namely Tom Rothman at Sony and Ted Sarandos at Netflix. There was never any negotiation for jobs, but instead conversations were held in the local language about what it would be like to work in the awkward conditions of a joint studio.
Rumor has it that Netflix film president Dan Lin is on ice, and De Luca and Abdi are coming. Those rumors are not currently true, we understand Lynn is in place. While Netflix is dipping its toes into theaters with longer windows, that is La Bola Negra, Kpop Demon Hunters 2 and Greta Gerwig narnia What’s more, the streamer is still nascent in the theatrical business which is Abdi and De Luca’s area of expertise.
As for the pair’s transition to Sony, Rothman is still running out of 17 months on his current contract, and it wouldn’t be a shock if the 71-year-old studio boss is back on the job. He already has a team in place with Sony Pictures president Sanford Panich.
There was talk that Abdi had met Apple SVP Eddy Cue and Apple TV heads Jamie Ehrlich and Zac Van Amburg for the jobs, however, we’ve heard that’s not true, with rising global streamer Mubi courting the pair.
It would not be surprising if De Luca and Abdi, who won Warner Bros. 11 Oscars this year and delivered a blockbuster film in 2025, start their own studio.
“Do you know how much tech money is out there right now? Mike and Pam will have no problem raising capital and launching their venture given their track record,” said a source with knowledge of their situation.
Earlier this year, the two were rumored to be starting a new studio with former Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins. However, due to the contracts of both, they were barred from raising funds to start their own venture in the event of a merger with WBD. Robbins received backing from Greycroft, Sony Pictures, Marzipan Capital Partners, ValueAct Capital and CAA to launch his family label Big Shot Pictures.
Meanwhile, many in town are wondering how the news of filmmaker-friendly De Luca and Abdi’s exit first hit the press. Even before De Luca and Abdi, and this weekend’s box office upset, digger, Warner Bros. is historically known for daring, box office-risky take-offs, i.e. Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange And the director’s shot of the year eyes wide Shut, Wachowski siblings’ Jupiter Ascending And speed Racer, Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton, the murder of Jesse James by the cowardly Robert Ford, Heck, even the movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, big sleep.
There are ups and downs in the film business. Last year Warner Bros. was on a high, and this year not so much. However, Paramount is absorbing a potential $1 billion year-end tentpole in Legendary/Warner Bros. Dune: Part Three, and a blockbuster 2027 produced by De Luca and Abdi that also stars Legendary A Minecraft Movie Squared, Directed by and starring Bradley Cooper ocean prequel Which also keeps Margot Robbie in the headlines, God Of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, and legendary Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.
The key to success for any studio boss these days is to be supported by an entertainment group CEO during good times and bad times, given the cyclical nature of the business.
The question is, if De Luca and Abdi had stayed, would cost efficiency have led Allison to follow suit.