Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy Dig Their Way Out of Skydance

As Paramount and Warner Bros. combine under wise overlord David Ellison, the vision for the company is becoming clearer. Paramount+ czar Cindy Holland is out; HBO’s Casey Bloys is in. And in movie-land, Warner Bros. film heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy are leaving the company, per Puck. The news arrives the same weekend that their latest film, the critically maligned and extremely expensive Digger, starring Tom Cruise, plays in theaters across America. In their place, Paramount executives Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein will run both the Paramount and Warner Bros. outputs, with a TBD executive hired under them to oversee the WB-specific films.

The combined company will shirk both legendary studios’ iconic names. Instead, it will take on Ellison’s original company’s moniker, “Skydance.” “We chose this name for a few important reasons,” Ellison said in a statement. “First and foremost, as we bring Paramount and Warner Bros. together, we wanted to preserve what has made each of these studios iconic. Both have distinct identities, extraordinary legacies and brands that have resonated with audiences for generations. We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one. Instead, we wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. — and all our extraordinary brands — to remain in the spotlight.” Under Ellison’s settlement with California AD Rob Bonta, Skydance must release 30 films per year, which Goldberg and Greenstein will now oversee.

De Luca and Abdy’s time at WB has been extremely rocky. Their modus operandi was giving auteur filmmakers sky-high budgets and betting on original films. Last year, it worked gangbusters: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners made a ton of money and garnered awards attention, Zach Cregger’s Weapons was a prestige hit, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another won Best Picture. This year, not so much. Their bombs have included Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! (which made $24 million on a reported $90 million budget) and Supergirl ($126 million against a $186 million budget). Now comes Digger, which reportedly cost $150 million and is slated to make under $15 million in its opening weekend. Not good enough for Skydance, clearly.