Warner Bros. Film Chiefs De Luca and Abdy Are Out as the Skydance Merger Era Begins
The executives who bet big on 'Sinners' and 'One Battle After Another' will not join the combined Paramount–Warner Bros. company, to be called Skydance Corporation — an early sign of how the industry's biggest merger will be run.
Warner Bros. film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pamela Abdy are on their way out, ending one of the most closely watched executive tenures in modern Hollywood just as David Ellison’s Paramount prepares to absorb the studio in a merger set to close Tuesday.
De Luca and Abdy will not join the combined Paramount–Warner Bros. company when Ellison takes control next week, according to trade reports; the news was first broken by Puck’s Matthew Belloni. The decision has reportedly already been made, though Ellison had yet to formally deliver it to the pair as of Thursday night. De Luca declined to comment, as did Paramount. According to Variety, the combined operation will be called Skydance Corporation, with the Paramount and Warner Bros. studio brands continuing under the larger corporate umbrella — Ellison’s own company name on top.
The end of the filmmaker-first era
The departures close a four-year run defined by expensive, sometimes reckless, and increasingly rare bets on original filmmaking. De Luca and Abdy gave Ryan Coogler roughly $90 million to make “Sinners” — along with the extraordinary provision that copyright eventually returns to him — and about $130 million to Paul Thomas Anderson for “One Battle After Another,” which went on to win Best Picture. “Weapons” became another original hit. Filmmakers knew Warner Bros. might actually say yes to the crazy thing.
That philosophy reached its purest form with “Digger,” Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s $160 million Tom Cruise vehicle, which opened just as the executives’ exit loomed. At Monday’s Los Angeles premiere, Cruise thanked De Luca and Abdy for greenlighting the film on the spot: “You didn’t even take a breath when we brought you this film. I don’t even think you turned the page on it. You’re just like — you’re in.”
What replaces them
The new regime is expected to look very different. Paramount film chiefs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg are expected to be elevated to oversee both studios; their recent slate — a new “Star Trek” movie, “Paranormal Activity,” “World War Z,” a “Call of Duty” adaptation and now “G.I. Joe” with Bradley Cooper — reflects a franchise-first approach that Belloni describes as “decidedly not big artistic swings at high costs.” Ellison reportedly wants a Cruise movie too, but “Days of Thunder 2,” not another “Digger.” James Gunn and Peter Safran are expected to be invited to remain at DC Studios, though, as Belloni notes, “at least initially.”
The corporate logic is plain: incoming co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, who eliminated roughly 2,000 jobs after taking over Mattel, will oversee operations, cost-cutting and integration, and Paramount has promised $6 billion in synergies. The news landed a day after actor Mark Ruffalo warned in an interview, following a federal judge’s approval of a settlement allowing the merger to proceed, that the consolidation would “stifle creativity,” weaken free speech and cost jobs.
De Luca and Abdy gave their critics ammunition of their own: Warner Bros. has not produced a $100 million domestic grosser in 2026, “The Bride!” bombed, and “Digger” could become an enormous write-down. Whether the new owners intend to make Warner Bros. cheaper and safer as well as bigger is the question now hanging over a 103-year-old studio.
Reporting based on coverage by The Playlist, Variety and Puck.
