Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca's WB Run: Big Swings, Hard Fall

A special screening of Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Digger" at the David Geffen Theater on Sept. 29 was supposed to be a campaign stop. As TheWrap reports, it ended up being a farewell tour for the movie's champions — Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, the since-departed co-heads of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Tom Cruise, who stars in and produced the film, called out the duo from the stage. "When we brought it to you, you didn't take a breath," he said, as relayed by TheWrap. "It was like, 'Yes, thank you.'" Iñárritu added, "Thank God you are crazy."

That "craziness" is what made Abdy and De Luca two of the most exciting executives to hold those jobs in recent memory. Under them, Warners released a slate that mixed big franchise fare — like the nearly $1 billion-grossing "A Minecraft Movie" and the Oscar-nominated "F1" — with genuinely odd auteur gambits: Bong Joon-ho's "Mickey 17," Ryan Coogler's period vampire epic "Sinners," and the bloated climate-change satire "Digger."

The Taste That Made Them

De Luca started at New Line Cinema, where TheWrap notes he encouraged Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, and John Carpenter; produced "Austin Powers" and "Lord of the Rings" before they were obvious bets; and knew "Blade" was cool before Marvel did. Abdy began as Danny DeVito's assistant and became a champion of female directors — Kasi Lemmons, Kimberly Pierce, Karyn Kusama, Melina Matsoukas, Sarah Polley. At MGM they reunited over "Licorice Pizza" and "Women Talking," then moved to Warner Bros. in 2022.

Together they navigated the streaming-versus-theatrical wars and helped save Turner Classic Movies by forming a curatorial committee with Spielberg, Scorsese, and Anderson. At the 2025 Oscars, Warner Bros. tied the record for most wins by a single studio — 11 — for films they shepherded.

"They were fans of the art form and appreciative of the artists," TheWrap writes. "Their slate felt less like a balanced spreadsheet meant to appease stockholders than a curated art gallery."

The Slate That Broke Them

2026 was a different story. TheWrap lists the misfires: Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" barely broke even; Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Bride!" cost $90 million and made $24 million worldwide; a J.J. Abrams dinosaur movie called "The End of Oak Street" lost money. "Mortal Kombat II" and "Practical Magic 2" fell short. And the $180 million "Digger" pulled in just $8 million in its opening weekend.

Those failures — along with the David Ellison-led Skydance takeover that placed Paramount's Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein in charge of both studios — sealed their exit.

What's Next?

TheWrap notes lingering questions about Clockwork, the indie-minded division Abdy and De Luca set up with Christian Parkes. Its first release is a restored NC-17 Ken Russell film. Also up in the air is Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, whose first feature is a "Cat in the Hat" starring Bill Hader. With Skydance already controlling two animation units, consolidation is likely.

Rumors suggest Abdy and De Luca could land at Netflix. TheWrap's analysis is blunt: under the new regime, a movie as adventurous as "Digger" seems impossible. Instead, the pipeline leans on legacy sequels — including a "Days of Thunder" sequel for Cruise. The era of saying yes to the weird stuff is over.

• Digger
• Mike De Luca
• Pam Abdy
• Skydance
• Tom Cruise
• Warner Bros.