On Friday, Warner Bros. film heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abedy waited for a phone call informing them of their future employment.
In the morning Skydance CEO David Ellison confirmed what he read online the night before in an anonymous report: that he would not be joining the newly merged Warner-Paramount studio. That someone else will handle his upcoming slate of half a dozen releases, including “Batman 2” and “Gremlins 3.” And their services were no longer required.
It was certainly a great way to handle the exit of two studio heads who had brought Warner Bros. glory at the Academy Awards earlier this year, with “One Battle After Another” winning Best Picture and Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for the critical darling “Sinners,” which finished a stellar 2025 at the box office.
All day long the Internet had been feeding off Puck’s unconfirmed (so far) reports of his exit, with Paramount (now renamed Skydance) refusing to comment. The officers remained engrossed in the news cycle and their anger increased over the slightest issue.
Ellison called each officer individually to inform them in a tense conversation. According to persons in the know, he told them that the merged companies had huge debt and needed restructuring to meet those obligations. Of course, this is not a secret to anyone. The combined entity is expected to have total debt of $80 billion.
He was not offered a production deal. His film slate will be handled by his deputy, Jesse Ehrman, and Mike Ireland, who is currently president of production. Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg are co-chairmen of Paramount Pictures and are expected to lead the merged film studio.
Both De Luca and Abdi were upset by the manner of his exit, according to people with knowledge of his reaction. Abdi was particularly angry and said to Mogul with some bitterness: “Good luck to you. I gave up 39 movies for you.”
Warner’s upcoming film slate is loaded with potential blockbusters, including “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” “The Batman Part II,” “Gremlins 3” and “A Minecraft Movie Squared.”
Under De Luca and Abdi, 2025 was a stellar year for Warner Bros., with two films nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” ultimately winning the top prize, and several box office hits including “A Minecraft Movie.”
But 2026 “Supergirl” and “The Bride!” It has been very difficult with films like! Failing to inspire the audience. The reported decision comes ahead of an expected disappointing domestic opening weekend for the Tom Cruise-led film “Digger,” which is predicted to bring in $12 million to $15 million.
Abdi and De Luca had no comment for this story. Paramount/Skydance declined to comment.
Executives’ last day is expected to be Tuesday when the two companies complete their merger.