<\/p>\n
Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca, co-chairs and chief executive officers of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, are posing for a photo in the Scenic Loft on the studio\u2019s historic lot. You may remember this as the backdrop from a scene in \u201cThe Studio,\u201d<\/a> where the head of a fictional Hollywood institution, played by Seth Rogen, learns he\u2019s finally landed his dream job. That is, if he can get a four-quadrant movie based on a popular drink mix off the ground. The duo thinks the Emmy-winning series is a funny \u201ccaricature of the industry\u201d \u2014 except for, well, one aspect: getting that Kool-Aid movie on track.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can’t help but think of the way Hollywood turned to tentpoles and franchises, temporarily forgetting sometimes that everything was original once,\u201d De Luca says. \u201cAnd if you don’t refresh the coffers with new IP to create new franchises, at some point you get to Chapter 10 or 11 and people start to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n That being said, Abdy admits that when her brother asked her if the series was what her life was really like, she replied, \u201cEh, it’s heightened. But yes.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, like Rogen\u2019s character, the pair have \u2014 against almost insurmountable odds \u2014 completely transformed their own 102-year-old institution. The veteran film executives and producers first met and became friends 30 years ago when their paths crossed on the now-forgotten dramedy \u201cLiving Out Loud.\u201d Decades later, they found themselves recruited to turn around MGM Studios. That short stint was immediately derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and a surprise Amazon acquisition, but their impressive taste made Hollywood take notice. They ended up greenlighting eventual best picture nominees \u201cLicorice Pizza\u201d and \u201cNickel Boys\u201d<\/a> as well as box-office hits \u201cHouse of Gucci\u201d and \u201cChallengers.\u201d<\/p>\n In July 2022, they jumped to Burbank, and three years later, their 2025 slate not only grossed more than $4 billion at the box office but made Oscar history. Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cSinners\u201d<\/a> earned a record 16 Academy Award nominations and joined Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d<\/a> and Joseph Kosinski\u2019s \u201cF1\u201d<\/a> as best picture nominees. (\u201cF1,\u201d produced and financed by Apple Studios, was distributed and marketed by WB worldwide.) No domestic distributor has earned three best picture nominees since Paramount Pictures 51 years ago. All on De Luca and Abdy\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n As with most studios, the creative partners invest in internal development but want to be a destination where filmmakers of all varieties, including auteurs, bring their projects for \u201cwhite glove\u201d treatment \u2014 a key selling point for Coogler, Anderson and their producing partners. Both projects were shrouded in secrecy, something the pair had experienced at MGM when they had to read \u201cOppenheimer\u201d at Christopher Nolan\u2019s house. (Universal landed the project, but they were told they were the quickest readers.) \u201cOne Battle\u201d required a road trip to Anderson\u2019s home in Tarzana, and an executive from Coogler\u2019s Proximity Media<\/a> stayed in the room with the execs while they read that screenplay on the lot.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just knew we had to have [\u2018Sinners\u2019] because we thought it would really connect with an audience on a very deep emotional level,\u201d De Luca recalls. \u201cAnd then at the first test screening, you could hear the racking sobs in that third act. Everybody left in tears, and that was very validating to see that the test audience had the same reaction that we did when we read the script.\u201d<\/p>\n Having worked with Anderson three times previously, De Luca knew \u201cOne Battle\u201d was special from \u201cword one,\u201d adding that the filmmaker writes scripts in a manner that \u201cyou can see the movie in your head from the first paragraph.\u201d<\/p>\n Abdy reflects, \u201cI was recently saying to Mike, \u2018On May 13th, 2023, the world was very different, and the times caught up to the movie,\u2019 but there was such an urgency to this film. This movie was about freedom and about expression and about love of a parent and a daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, a generational theme,\u201d De Luca adds. \u201cA call to action [for] the young generation to take it over for yourselves and sweep away the old and go out there and effect change. But it was really funny. It read like an action-comedy dystopian satire because it was at that time. But then, as Pam said, what do you do when the real world catches up to you?\u201d<\/p>\n The studio was also gifted with a supporting actress nomination for Amy Madigan\u2019s performance as the now-iconic Aunt Gladys<\/a> in Zach Cregger\u2019s \u201cWeapons.\u201d<\/p>\n De Luca recalls calling people into their office to watch Madigan\u2019s dailies, but that quickly came to an end. He reveals, \u201cI stopped watching dailies on that because Zach is so surprising that I just wanted to go to the first test screening and experience the movie. And it was like a roller coaster.\u201d<\/p>\n The studio heads were so impressed with the audience reaction they essentially locked the movie after that first test. They also made a decision that may have assisted in the adoration for Madigan, and kept the character a secret in the marketing campaign. Abdy recalls, \u201cOne night very early on right after \u2018Weapons\u2019 had opened, I was out at an Academy Museum event with a lot of other members of the academy, and there was a lot of buzz about her. We did think, \u2018Well, her peers are going to recognize this performance.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Neither executive wants to pick favorites, but Abdy is thrilled for \u201cSinners\u201d supporting actor nominee Delroy Lindo (\u201cHe is one of the most soulful, beautiful people we’ve ever had the privilege to work with\u201d), while De Luca is moved by the posthumous nomination for \u201cOne Battle\u201d producer Adam Somner, a longtime Anderson collaborator who died in 2024 and told the filmmaker it was finally time to make the long-gestating project.<\/p>\n Abdy and De Luca re-upped their contracts in October and expect to stay on if Netflix\u2019s acquisition of Warner Bros. is approved by shareholders. They have prestige titles including Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez\u00a0<\/b>I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2019s \u201cDigger\u201d and Denis Villeneuve\u2019s \u201cDune: Part Three\u201d in the hopper as well as Christian Parkes\u2019 new division, meant for films of the A24 or Neon variety. When the number of films at the recent Sundance Film Festival that appeared to have distribution issues comes up, the pair took a rare view in this town in 2026: a glass-half-full one.<\/p>\n De Luca laughs, \u201cDon’t you feel like everyone’s skeptical about every movie doing well? Why is everything so negative, man?”<\/p>\n Abdy adds, \u201cShouldn\u2019t this be a time for optimism and joy in our industry, in the world? Movies can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe they really could<\/i> pull off a Kool-Aid movie.<\/p>\n