Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav announced in an internal email to staff that Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy have renewed their contracts. Zaslav marked the occasion with a celebratory note to employees — read part of his message below.
“I am excited to share with you that we have re-upped their deal to enable them to continue the stellar work they and this team will do over the next several years bringing the very best movies to cinemas around the world,” wrote Zaslav today.
At the start of the year, the knives were out for Warner Bros. Motion Picture chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy. Handpicked by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, the duo’s early lineup of ambitious, auteur-driven, big-budget projects looked like a string of misfires waiting to happen. When the first wave — “Joker: Folie à Deux”, “Mickey 17”, and “Alto Knights” — stumbled badly at the box office, the narrative was all but written: the experiment had failed.
Trade outlets pounced, with a flood of reports suggesting DCU co-chair Peter Safran as a possible replacement. The buzz around Burbank was grim — Warners had swung big, and it looked like they’d missed.
And then, almost overnight, the story flipped. By spring, Warner Bros. had staged one of the most stunning turnarounds in recent studio history. Suddenly, the bets were hitting.
“A Minecraft Movie”, “Sinners”, “Final Destination: Bloodlines”, “F1”, “Superman”, “Weapons”, and “The Conjuring: Last Rites” all became major hits, driving Warners to the top of both the domestic and global box office charts. The studio closed the year with over $4 billion in receipts — surpassing Disney’s annual haul and marking its most profitable year in over a decade.
Even when their streak of seven straight $40M+ openers finally broke — “One Battle After Another” opened below projections — the film’s critical acclaim and Oscar momentum kept the studio’s winning narrative intact.
In the span of months, De Luca and Abdy went from embattled execs to industry success stories, their bold strategy vindicated by massive blockbuster hits. What started as an inevitable firing has turned into a case study in the rewards of staying the course.
It’s now been 13 years since "The Grandmaster,” and it doesn’t sound like Wong Kar-wai will be making another film in the near future. His future seems to be on the small screen.