Warner Bros. film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy were waiting for a phone call Friday informing them of their upcoming jobs.
Skydance CEO David Ellison confirmed what they had read online the night before in an anonymous report: that they would not be joining the new merged Warner-Paramount studio. That their upcoming slate of half a dozen releases, including “Batman 2” and “Gremlins 3,” would be handled by someone else. And that their services were no longer needed.
It was certainly an inelegant way to handle the departure of two studio chiefs who had led Warner Bros. to Oscar glory earlier this year, with the triumph of “One Battle After Another” winning best picture and Michael B. Jordan winning best actor for his critical darling “Sinners,” capping off a remarkable 2025 at the box office.
All day the internet has been feeding on the unconfirmed (so far) report of their release by Puck, with Paramount (now renamed Skydance) refusing to comment. Leaders have been left hanging in the news cycle, growing increasingly angry at this affront.
Ellison called each of the executives, separately, to brief them in a tense exchange. According to people informed, he told them that the merged companies were heavily in debt and needed to restructure to meet those obligations. Of course, this is no secret. The combined entity is expected to have total debt of around $80 billion.
No production contract was offered to them. Their film programs will be managed for the time being by their deputies, Jesse Ehrman and Mike Ireland, who are currently the presidents of production. Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg are co-chairmen of Paramount Pictures and are expected to lead the combined movie studios.
De Luca and Abdy were furious at how their departure was handled, according to people with knowledge of their reaction. Abdy was particularly offended and told the mogul with some bitterness: “Good luck to you. I left you 39 films.”
Warner’s film slate is full of likely blockbusters, including “The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum,” “The Batman Part II,” “Gremlins 3” and “A Minecraft Movie Squared.”
Under the leadership of De Luca and Abdy, Warner Bros. had a spectacular 2025, with two films nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” ultimately taking home the top prize, and several box office hits, including “A Minecraft Movie.”
But 2026 was much more difficult with films like “The Bride!” » and “The End of Oak Street” failing to motivate the audience. The announced move comes ahead of an anticipated and disappointing domestic opening weekend for the Tom Cruise-led film, “Digger,” which is expected to gross between $12 million and $15 million. Update: the film opened Friday to just $3.4 million and is now expected to hit just $7.5 million when it opens.
Abdy and De Luca had no comment for this story. Paramount/Skydance declined to comment.
The executives’ final day is expected to come when the two companies finalize their merger on Tuesday.
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