Warner Bros.’ The presentation at Cinemacon Tuesday night was packed with lots of big screen sights, but it was brought to the point that rumors have swirling around the future of the studio and its film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy.
Last weekend, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav reported that he is undergoing preliminary consultations with other executives who could potentially replace the former MGM chief who joined Warner following the 2022 merger between Warner and Discovery.
De Luka and Abi were even pushed aside for oblique references to these reports, instead offering a film passionately representing an approach to slate building with the top budget for the original film.
Two weeks from now, one of those films, Ryan Coogler’s “The Crime,” will sprint the theater with an early pursuit that predicts a $40 million start. Warner banks the bank with this $90 million Jordan Peel-esque footage, a genre-bending occult film starring Michael B. Jordan and Haley Steinfeld.
Then, in September, the studio will release Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle Afterluse.” This will also hold a budget of over $100 million and win the release of the IMAX 70mm and Vistavision to build interest among cinemas and older movie fans. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor and Regina Hall came on stage to show clips of DiCaprio as a desperate revolutionary and addict trying to find his lost daughter.
While Anderson wasn’t a Christopher Nolan-level squad at the box office, Warner is about to give up on his upcoming crime film, starring an early fall release starring Leonardo DiCaprio, with event release marketing worthy of an Oscar nominee.
Abdy expressed enthusiasm for every film in Warner upcoming, but she showed special excitement for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!”. A new take on Frankenstein’s bride starring Jesse Buckley appeared in March 2026. Gyllenhaal spoke at length about inserting the Bride’s Tale into Chicago in the early 20th century and how excited she was to work for the IMAX camera for the first time and play in the unique aspect ratio that the format offers.
It all came before the trailer of the highly visceral red band, which showed off the stylized violence of the film and the unique designs for Buckley’s Bride and Christian Bale’s Frankenstein Monsters.
Still, these films need to make money to show that big budget originality works against all odds, but it’s not their job to carry the financial burden of Warner Bros. Film category.
The job went to DC Studios, finishing up Warner’s presentations in the grand finale of Studio Head James Gunn and Peter Safran. Shortly after hiring the filmmaker and veteran producer for “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Zaslav was tasked with silencing DC Studios from other film divisions and regaining viewers’ interest in the struggling franchise.
Of course, all of these plans for “Superman” to be a hit, Warner and DC showed confidence in the film by presenting a long panel with a cast of the film, led by many stories.
Beyond DC and the original, other films featured during Warner’s presentations included a dark, humorous and extremely terrifying return of Newline’s “The Final Destination,” with the appearance of “Barbarian” director Zach Cregor talking about “weapons.”
Warner has also announced Apple’s “F1.” It covers and features the team of Star Brad Pitt and manager Joseph Kosinski. Sneak Peak includes actual race footage shot during Daytona’s 24 hours, with Warner and Apple hoping that the $300 million tent pole will replicate some of Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick” magic and find infiltrating into the summer franchise’s competitors.
2026 will be a huge year for Warner Bros. Animation. It showed off the ongoing trailer for “The Cat in the Hat” and the hot reels of other works in development, such as “Meat the Flintstone” and “The Lunar Chronicles.”
After the ups and downs of 2024, when hits like “Dune: Part 2” and “Beetlejuice Beat Re Juice” were hit alongside flops like “Fuliosa” and “Joker: Folly a Dews,” 2025 was a rough start for the disappointing and malicious Warner Bros.
Among these films is the new Line horror film “Companion,” which, despite its rave reviews, has earned just $37 million worldwide for a $20 million marketing/production spending. Bong Joon-Ho’s “Mickey 17,” which won $120 million worldwide against the reported production budget of $118 million and the $50 million mobuter film “Alto Knights,” has made just $9 million worldwide after nearly two weeks of play.
Both Warner and the struggling box office gross are projected that Legendary will adapt the hit video game Minecraft and host a weekend of at least $70 million.
Post Warner Bros. unveiled the original film and DC’s big plans in the stormy future, first appearing in The Wrap.
