ONEAfter months of flirting, plate flirting with all the great agents and all the execs who even have a vague hope of running some parts of the Warner Bros. movie studio, the bubblegum and the road meet the bosses of bosses. David Zaslav.
Reassured that everyone had to get rid of AT&T’s management, they began to evaluate the choice in a new way. There was already a grudge against the CNN boss chris light From cable network specialists, many of whom are still serving Shiva’s exiles. Jeff Zucker. The Story of June 5th ✓ New York Times He said that a month after the end of the Licht administration, “some CNN journalists” wondered “whether I could navigate the clumsy global news network, which has not been a good, very bad year.”
miguel de luca s pam abdiOn the other hand, the film community is likely to find its hands wide. Together they have a decade of experience in the industry and De Luca’s relationship with talent was especially with Zaslav. (You’ll definitely notice what Hollywood is doing with strangers starting to make statements without a goodwill ambassador to guide and protect them.) At the top of the list is anyone who has good items for sale. But the strongest bait is always money, and De Luca is known to spend it. This seems to be very much at odds with Zaslav’s natural inclinations and, given the debt, tight cost control is necessary.
Even some of De Luca’s friends are worried about how this will end. “He’s talented, he’s an avid supporter of certain types of projects,” said the executive, who knows him well. “Is this going to reduce you in a large corporate environment?”
A high-level veteran player is really confused when asked to make a prediction. “I love Mike. But Mike was totally consistent in making spectacular movies and losing a lot of money,” he says (with some hyperbole). Another longtime insider says: “The idea of fiscal responsibility and creative freedom? head falls.”
Of course, De Luca and Abdi spent the money on MGM, although the source says they stayed within the development and production budget they were given. His tenure as president and president, respectively, was to make the adrift studio appear to be in the game to help drive sales. (The logic of this is unclear, as the franchise and the Bond library were the real assets of the block.)
Insiders saw De Luca’s hiring there then, and now at Warners, as evidence of CAA’s strong persuasiveness. Brian Lord. And, of course, many CAA customers benefited from additional agreements. Paulo Thomas Anderson done licorice pizza, Lady Gaga Juice gucci house, joseph wright s Peter Dinklage done Cyranoand so.
MGM was at the awards talk and licorice pizza It was nominated for the studio’s best film since rain man in 1988. But sources say leaders at Amazon, which bought MGM for $8.5 billion in March, were stunned by the loss of tens of millions on paper. To be fair, the movies were released in theaters during the pandemic. But licorice pizza It cost about $50 million and made just $32 million. Cyrano He was dead on arrival. And Amazon has a few more in the works that are unlikely to work.
If we look at this story, there are many reasons to consider De Luca and Zaslav to be very strange couples. “People admire Mike’s taste and love doing business with him,” said one of De Luca’s associates. “But, I know, people were asking for something smaller, not bigger. This is a big problem”.
How big is still unknown? The number of films and the budget that Zaslav will approve appears to be determined. No matter where the studio is, this is a strange new world for Zaslav, who is even used to interacting with TV shows for the price of an episode, which is part of a series on one of Turner’s channels.
Over the years, de Luca has zigzagged from executive to producer and back again. After joining New Line at age 19 as an intern, he began running a record company and seeing films that defined him as a man of strong, eclectic taste: Seven, dance nights, austin powers, Friday. In 2001, he was fired for several hits. (She still likes Adam Sandler’s failure little nick.) Gained a bad reputation in Hollywood: public intoxication, fights, sex. The truth, and he’s transparent about it, is that he periodically struggled with addiction. He has now been sober for four years.
After New Line, he was president of the production company DreamWorks, but it turned out to be a bad match. In 2004, he became a producer at Sony Pictures. What followed, in the end, was to generate credits for the best picture nominees. Social network In 2010, money ball in 2011 and Captain Phillips In 2013. (Scott Rudin He was producer on two of them and executive producer on the third.)
De Luca returned to the executive role at Sony in 2013, where he was co-producer of the production company. Hannah Mingel. Spending expenses under pressure in the direction of the study, doug belgradeThe then-president of the studio wrote a letter to his boss in November 2014 amy pascal“I don’t think Mike really remembers all the times I told him how much the budget was, how much was too much.” Pascal, ironically known as a particularly spendthrift executive, responded, “I want them to understand how to do things like an adult with plans, goals, and responsibilities. I write the same comment over and over like crazy.”
(When asked to comment, Pascal now says, “I have spent over 30 years working with Mike and I can say categorically and unequivocally that he is one of the most talented, smart, creative and physically responsible executives I have ever worked with. are completely removed from the context of a personal email conversation, is irresponsible, misleading and unfair”).
A few months after the 2014 email, Pascal was fired in favor of fiscally wise people. tom rothmann And De Luca left Sonny. He made a deal with Universal where he was a producer. fifty shades of lightning A trilogy that has grossed over 1,300 million dollars worldwide. In January 2020, he was named president of the MGM Film Group.
Reviewing this story, some of those who have known De Luca for years are wondering what will happen next. Is Zaslav really prepared for the high marketing costs of betting on expensive movies? For him, this is all new territory. “He probably feels like he can handle it and accept all the good things about Brian. [Lourd] It will provide and be able to manage costs,” said De Luca’s former colleague.
Some wonder if De Luca and Abdi are once again doing the job they allegedly hired at MGM: keeping the Warners in the game for sale. “How long do you think you will be an independent company?” Says a veteran executive. “I say two, three years. I will buy this company. … If they can make good movies and declare non-existent Harry Potter “Something, that’s a win.”
The story first appeared in the June 8 issue of The Gossipify. Click here to subscribe.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
