Paramount-Warner Bros. A day before the merger’s official closing, Skydance Corp.’s newly appointed Motion Picture Group co-chairmen Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein announced immediate plans for the film division.
Goldberg and Greenstein are working with both Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., according to a memo obtained. They promised that Pictures “will continue to create and release their film slate separately under these brands.” Diversity. “This means that every Warner Bros. Pictures or Paramount Pictures movie you see will bear their logo.”
The duo also wrote that they “will not claim that a combination of this size arrives unchanged.” The message follows a memo Tuesday morning from chairman and CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, acknowledging that the layoffs would be part of the integration process of the two companies. “We are committed to handling this process thoughtfully and respectfully,” Ellison and Kreiz wrote.
“The opportunity before us is extraordinary, and we look forward to building on everything you have accomplished,” Goldberg and Greenstein’s memo concluded.
Goldberg and Greenstein previously co-chaired Paramount Pictures. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. It was announced that Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca, president of Motion Picture Group, will not join the new company.
Read the full note here:
Dear teammates,
Today is Day One of a new chapter and we are proud to share it with all of you. It’s a tremendous privilege to make films, and it’s an even greater honor to do so as executives of two of the most established studios in Hollywood history. We take this responsibility seriously and have great respect for the people, work and relationships that make these studios what they are today.
At the heart of this legacy lies the belief that movies are best watched together on the big screen. A century later, this human connection still survives. Going to the movies is a social tradition where a story becomes a moment we carry with us. This tradition is flourishing and David Ellison is making one of the biggest investments in its future. We believe in this and we are all in this together.
Our mission is to build on the legacy of these studios, home to the greatest filmmakers and storytellers. We will embrace their vision, support it with the best marketing and distribution in the industry, and continue to create cultural moments that shape generations. This means a consistent willingness to make bold moves and push boundaries alongside crowd-pleasers.
We organized our film sections around movies. Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures will continue to create and release its film slate separately under these brands. This is every Warner Bros. movie you’ve ever seen. Pictures or Paramount Pictures means that the film will bear its own logo. These are cornerstone labels and will continue to be the home of our biggest commercial and filmmaker-led projects. DC Studios, New Line Cinema and Paramount Primal will continue as separate companies with certain powers. Republic Pictures and Warner Bros. Our animation and custom tags, including Clockwork, will also run independently.
We will not claim that a combination of this size comes without changes. We know you’ll have questions and we’ll answer them to the best of our ability, but we won’t be able to answer everything today. We’ll be spending time with the teams at both studios over the coming months, listening, learning, and sharing updates along the way. Your experience and perspective will be important in shaping what happens next. What we can say with confidence is that our goal is simple and starts with the job in front of us.
Our shared job is to give teams and filmmakers the support they need to do their best and create films that are entertaining and lasting. The opportunity before us is extraordinary and we look forward to building on everything you have accomplished.
We will build something special together.
Long live the movies,
Dana and Josh