Toby Emmerich Out As Warner Bros Motion Picture Group Chairman; Michael De Luca & Pam Abdy Reach Deal To Lead Studio
01.06.2022 - 20:07
/ deadline.com
Toby Emmerich is out as the head of Warner Bros. motion picture studio. Replacing him are Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who recently exited the helm of MGM. This had been rumored since before they exited that studio (they’ll stay into the summer until their contracts expire). This is part of Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s grand plan to split Warner Bros into multiple labels, with Warner Bros proper/New Line, DC Entertainment and Animation.
Facing a new construct where he would have given up oversight of DC and Animation, Emmerich instead chose to step down and right into a lucrative production deal at Warner Bros, given him by Zaslav, so even though Warner Discovery is the home of Game of Thrones, this wasn’t nearly as ruthless. The fates of DC Boss Walter Hamada and the other executives who’ve been loyal to Emmerich, i.e. New Line’s Richard Brener and Warner Bros Motion Pictures Group COO Carolyn Blackwood are unclear at this moment.
Emmerich will stay at the helm until the summer, until Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy board, and run DC in the short term along with Animation. MGM, which is losing De Luca and Abdy, is aggressively looking for new leadership to remain a generator of theatrical content. Deadline hears that former Fox motion pictures boss Emma Watts is the candidate most often mentioned for what could be a plum job.
The mix of personalities will be interesting. When De Luca was fired from New Line in January 2001 after a string of unsuccessful films including Little Nicky, he was replaced by New Line Music Exec Emmerich, so this is an interesting turnabout. With De Luca, Warners gets an executive known for having strong relationships with filmmakers like David Fincher and Paul Thomas Anderson and he’s
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