Warner Bros. executives Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy are currently in hot water due to several flops at the studio and may soon have their jobs on the chopping block, Variety reports. Leaving their previous positions as the heads of MGM’s film division in 2022 to lead the 102-year-old studio’s Motion Picture Group, the pair initially had great success with 2023’s Barbie, which grossed over $1 billion, and 2024’s Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. But things would take a turn when a series of box office flops, including Furiosa, Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2, and Joker: Folie a Deux, followed.
Now, after further underperforming results with Mickey 17 and The Alto Knights in the first quarter of 2025, De Luca and Abdy’s futures at the company are looking more and more uncertain, with Bloomberg reporting that CEO David Zaslov is currently in informal talks to replace them.
Complicating matters is the duo’s upcoming slate of films, which includes A Minecraft Movie, with reception to its marketing being decisive, and more risky, auteur-driven fare, such as Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which Zaslav is not happy about.
Despite all this, De Luca and Abdy seem in optimistic spirits, with De Luca saying in an interview:
“…We think we’re turning a corner with ‘Minecraft’ and we’ll have wind in the sails for our diversified slate strategy.”
A Minecraft Movie releases on April 4th.
UPDATE: As of this writing, A Minecraft Movie has become a box office success, grossing $157 million in its first weekend.
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