Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich to exit in latest shift after the Discovery merger
- Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich is stepping down.
- He'll be replaced by former MGM heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy.
Toby Emmerich, the chairman of Warner Bros. Picture Group, will step down from his role, multiple outlets reported on Wednesday, including Variety, Deadline, and The Hollywood Reporter.
Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, formerly the heads of the MGM film studio, are expected to replace Emmerich, the outlets reported. De Luca and Abdy exited MGM in April after it was acquired by Amazon.
A Warner Bros. representative did not immediately return a request for confirmation.
De Luca and Abdy's oversight would include Warner Bros., New Line, and, for the time being, DC, according to the outlets.
THR reported that Walter Hamada, who oversees movies based on DC comics, would report to De Luca and Abdy until new leadership for the DC unit is found.
In April, Variety reported that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was eyeing an "overhaul" for DC, including finding a person like Marvel's Kevin Feige to oversee DC's creative strategy, and revitalizing underused characters like Superman.
Zaslav has also made repairing the relationship between Warner Bros. and movie theaters a priority, after the studio released all of its 2021 movies simultaneously in theaters and on the streaming service HBO Max.
That was the backdrop for Warner Bros.' appearance at April's exhibitor conference CinemaCon, where the major studios highlighted upcoming releases to theater owners. It came on the heals of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, which was finalized earlier that month. Emmerich spoke to the crowd about the importance of the theatrical experience.
A little over a month later, he's on his way out in favor of De Luca and Abdy, who focused on theatrical output at MGM before it was purchased in March by Amazon.
Emmerich's exit is the latest in a line of post-merger executive shakeups, including the ouster of WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar.