The Skydance era at Warner Bros. has begun with a seismic executive shake-up. TheWrap reports that motion picture group chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are out, as David Ellison's newly closed $110 billion takeover installs Paramount film heads Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein to oversee both studios.
De Luca and Abdy ran Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group since 2022, arriving from MGM. As TheWrap's retrospective notes, they leave behind the strangest ledger in the business: the slate that made Warner Bros. the critical darling of 2025 — Sinners, Weapons, One Battle After Another, and a record-tying 11 Oscars in March with Ryan Coogler thanking "Mike and Pam" from the Best Original Screenplay podium — alongside one of 2026's biggest bombs, the Iñárritu–Tom Cruise epic Digger, which opened to just $8 million on a reported $180 million cost.
According to Deadline, the pair learned they were out from overnight trade reports days before the merger closed on October 6 — Ellison never called. The outlet reports their deals, which had marketing and distribution reporting directly into them, were tough terms for the new ownership to honor. Talks are underway about a producing contract at the combined company.
James Gunn and Peter Safran remain co-heads of DC Studios. The new Skydance has committed to at least 30 theatrical releases a year under a settlement with 12 US states — and inherits a combined slate of about 71 dated movies through 2028, 56% of it supplied by De Luca and Abdy's Warner Bros.
The new regime isn't wasting time. With the $110 billion deal closed on October 6, Ellison has already signaled the combined Skydance will chase more than $6 billion in cost savings within three years — even as its 12-state settlement commits it to 30 theatrical releases a year and $1.5 billion in additional US production spending. Key tests arrive fast: Dune: Part Three opens December 18 with its date untouched, and DC Studios' Man of Tomorrow looms in 2027. How Goldberg and Greenstein balance austerity with ambition will define the new Hollywood super-studio.