Mike De-Luca Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Warner Bros. Pictures is revamping the “Lord of the Rings” film franchise. On a Thursday earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav announced that newly-installed studio leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy have brokered a deal to make “multiple” films based on the beloved J. R. R. Tolkien series. The films will be developed through WB label New Line Cinema. The first series of films, helmed by Peter Jackson, grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide. Embracer Group AB made the deal with he studio for adaptations of “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.”

Leslie Grace has spoken at length for the first time about Batgirl‘s cancellation.The actress was due to star as the titular character Barbara Gordon in the DC film, which was shelved last year despite finishing production. It was claimed at the time that it received poor test screenings, and that the film was reportedly written off for tax purposes.Speaking to Variety about finding out about the axing, Grace revealed she learned the news when it broke in the media, recalling: “I found out like the rest of you.

Exhibition stocks were up today on news from Bloomberg that Amazon is going to commit a reported $1 billion to theatrical releases annually.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline hears that a global zoom meeting was held for Warner Discovery employees this morning, on which CEO David Zaslav introduced the new DC Studios Co-Chairmen and CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran. This was their first appearance together before the company since being named to their posts on Oct. 25.

Industry veterans James Gunn and Peter Safran have been appointed to the new roles of Co-Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of DC Studios, overseeing the overall creative direction of the DC Universe across film, TV, and animation under a single banner. Gunn and Safran will report to David Zaslav, President and Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros. Discovery, and will work closely with Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, Co-Chairpersons and CEOs of Warner Bros. Film Group. The appointments will be effective on November 1. 

Warner Bros Discovery’s film studio has been through a series of shake ups this year, most recently with the exit of Courtenay Valenti, the ascendance of Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy and the unsuccessful negotiations with Dan Lin to run DC. Despite the tumult, the studio has one very powerful ally as it tries to find its cadence.

HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys has a new title, Chairman and CEO, HBO and HBO Max Content.

Warner Bros., I feel extraordinary pride in what my colleagues and I have contributed to the studio andto the big screen. And tremendous gratitude for the time spent with them and some of the most dynamic and creative icons of cinema.

Ethan Shanfeld Courtenay Valenti, president of production and development for Warner Bros. Pictures, will depart from the studio after 33 years. Valenti will carry out her role until the end of October. “We’ve known Courtenay and been admirers of her work for many years,” said Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, co-chairs and CEOs of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in a joint statement provided to Variety. “She’s been an integral part of Warner Bros. Pictures’ success for over three decades and has had a hand in guiding some of the studio’s most popular and successful films. She’s well-respected across the creative community, she’s beloved here on the lot, and she will be greatly missed. We know that she’ll be hugely successful in her next endeavor and join all of her colleagues in wishing her the very best.”  

If there was one thing that the turbulent week at Warner Bros. Discovery displayed, it’s just how quickly conventional wisdom can change from one regime to the next, when each is trying to gin up the stock price for Wall Street.

Following the departure of Toby Emmerich as Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Boss, his fellow associate, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group COO Carolyn Blackwood is leaving. This is all ahead of Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy coming in to run the motion picture group under Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Michael De Luca and his partner Pamela Abdy are in talks to join Warner Bros. Discovery as film executives, multiple insiders familiar with the situation told Variety.Scenarios being discussed include having De Luca and Abdy launch a movie label within the Warner Bros. Pictures group, or enlisting them to take roles within that division itself.

MGM chief Michael De Luca and top exec Pam Abdy are leaving the studio, sources said. This follows the acquisition of the studio by Amazon. Deadline hears there will be a town hall meeting today to explain the changes. MORE

Angelique Jackson Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All,” starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell.The project, Guadagnino’s first U.S.-set feature, also stars Mark Rylance, André Holland, Jessica Harper, Michael Stuhlbarg, David Gordon-Green, Francesca Scorsese and Chloë Sevigny.“I am delighted that MGM, a studio that so clearly loves filmmakers and respects bold vision, is going to bring my movie into the world and that the amazing work of Timothée, Taylor, Mark and the rest of the cast will be seen in theaters,” Guadagnino said. “‘Bones and All’ could not be in better hands with Kevin Ulrich, Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy at the helm.

last week Amazon closed its deal to acquire MGM and placed MGM’s film group chairman Michael De Luca as part of an interim leadership structure reporting to Amazon Studios and Prime Video SVP Mike Hopkins. “Bones and All” is a story of first love between Maren, a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee, an intense and disenfranchised drifter, as they meet and join together for a thousand-mile odyssey which takes them through the back roads, hidden passages, and trap doors of Ronald Reagan’s America.

After holding two separate town hall meetings for Amazon Studios/Primetime Video and MGM employees earlier today, Mike Hopkins, SVP Prime Video & Amazon Studios, sent a followup memo to MGM employees Friday afternoon. In it, he shared more details about the interim organizational reporting changes that will be implemented as Amazon prepares to start the integration process following the close of its $8.5 billion acquisition of the stories Hollywood studio.

Michael De Luca may be the big winner from Wednesday’s blockbuster news that Amazon will purchase Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $8.45 billion.Though insiders caution that no decisions have been made, there is speculation around Hollywood that De Luca will play a major role in helping the e-commerce giant monetize its new library of 4,000 MGM film titles. It’s an arsenal of intellectual property that includes “Robocop,” “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Rocky,” and, of course, James Bond.