The last day of Warner Bros. movie chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will be Tuesday, which is essentially the first day of Skydance, the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. company.
The move ends months of speculation about whether the duo would make the jump post-merger, given the box office decline they’ve experienced with $448.4 million domestic for the period Jan. 1-October 1, down from their $4.3 billion mark last year, not to mention Tom Cruise’s $125-$160 million bomb this weekend, Excavator, which will have the chance to open even to 10 million dollars domestic.
Some insiders were skeptical about De Luca and Abdy. From what we’re told, the duo were blindsided and distraught to learn of their fate through Thursday night’s news reports without ever receiving a phone call from Skydance co-CEO David Ellison. They were expected to at least enter the newly merged studio, much like they did at the new Amazon MGM Studios. The idea was that De Luca and Abdy would continue to oversee editing, filmmaker relations, marketing and distribution of the 39 dated films they are delivering to the new merger, which will have 70 films between this weekend and through 2029. A dinner, we hear, between the duo and Ellison months ago brought optimism.
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Ellison finally caught up with De Luca and Abdy on Friday to tell them the news they had read in the press. A decision was made by the cost-control co-CEO in his quest to pay down debt to keep his current Paramount Pictures co-presidents, Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, in charge of not only the Melrose lot, but all of Warner Bros.’ theatrical brands. This structure does not correspond to the current terms of De Luca and Abdy’s WBD contract, which runs until 2030 and in which the duo reports to the CEO, with marketing and distribution reporting to them.
And now ?
Ellison will have to pay for De Luca and Abdy’s contract.
But wait, what about all the places De Luca and Abdy are supposed to go?
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For now, sources say they will take some time off, rest and recalibrate. Both have no competing offers from other studios. Their intention, from what we’ve heard, is to remain in partnership, presiding over a full-scale theatrical-focused film studio.
Rumors are circulating about their production plans at Netflix and Sony. The two men maintain social relationships with other studio bosses in the city, namely Tom Rothman at Sony and Ted Sarandos at Netflix. No job talk was ever sought, but rather vernacular discussions about what it would be like to work in an anomalous situation of a combined studio.
Rumor has it that Netflix Film President Dan Lin is on ice and De Luca and Abdy are coming. These rumors are currently not true, we understand that Lin remains in place. As Netflix moves into cinema with longer windows, i.e. La Bola Negra, Demon Hunters Kpop 2 and that of Greta Gerwig Narnia and what’s more, the streamer is still in its infancy in the theatrical sector which is Abdy and De Luca’s area of expertise.
As for a move to Sony for the duo, Rothman has 17 months left on his current contract, and it wouldn’t be shocking if the 71-year-old studio boss returned. He already has a team in place with Sony Pictures Chairman Sanford Panitch.
There was buzz that Abdy had met with Apple SVP Eddy Cue and Apple TV chiefs Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg for jobs, however, we’re hearing that’s not true, in addition to burgeoning global streamer Mubi courting the duo.
What wouldn’t be shocking is if De Luca and Abdy, who won 11 Oscars this year for Warner Bros. and a blockbuster in 2025, started their own studio.
“Do you know how much money there is in tech right now? Mike and Pam would have no problem raising capital and starting their own company given their backgrounds,” said a source with knowledge of their situation.
Earlier this year, a rumor circulated that the duo would team up with former Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins to create a new studio. However, due to the duo’s contract, they were prohibited from raising funds to start their own business if WBD merged. Robbins ended up receiving backing from Greycroft, Sony Pictures, MarcyPen Capital Partners, ValueAct Capital and CAA to launch his family label Big Shot Pictures.
Meanwhile, many people in town are stunned by how the filmmaker-friendly departures of De Luca and Abdy were first reported in the press. Even before De Luca and Abdy, and before this weekend’s box office was shaken up, Excavator, Warner Bros. is historically known for its bold and risky moves at the box office, such as Stanley Kubrick’s. A clockwork orange and the director’s one-year plan Eyes wide closed, The Wachowski siblings Jupiter ascending And Speed racer, That of Tony Gilroy Michael Clayton, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, hell, even the film by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, The big sleep.
There are ups and downs in the world of cinema. Last year, Warner Bros was at its highest, and this year, not so much. However, Paramount is absorbing a potential $1 billion year-end in Legendary/Warner Bros. Dune: part three, and a 2027 blockbuster led by De Luca and Abdy that includes Legendary’s A Minecraft movie squared away, Bradley Cooper is directed and performed by The Ocean prequel which also titles Margot Robbie, The Lord 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 the CEO of an entertainment conglom in good times and bad, given the cyclical nature of the business.
The question remains whether De Luca and Abdy had stayed, whether Ellison would have respected that in terms of profitability.
Gn entert
