The two top executives at Metro Goldwyn Mayer — Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy — announced their impending departures on Wednesday, one month after Amazon closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of the film studio.
In a memo to employees, Mr. De Luca and Ms. Abdy said they would leave this summer.
“We came to MGM to help restore its vibrancy among the storied studios of the last century, and we are proud to say, thanks to all of you and your efforts, it is mission accomplished,” they said in the memo. “With our goal achieved, and as we look ahead, we feel now is the right time for us to move on and explore our next chapter and challenge.”
Brought on board in early 2020 in an effort to bolster the studio and ready it for a sale, the executives put together an ambitious — if not totally successful — theatrical slate, working with such filmmakers as Ridley Scott, Paul Thomas Anderson and Joe Wright. Committed to theatrical distribution, the company was hampered when audiences largely stayed away from theaters during the pandemic. Mr. Scott’s “House of Gucci” brought in over $156 million, but the studio’s ambitious remake of “Cyrano” from Mr. Wright barely crossed $6 million.
Channing Tatum’s “Dog” was a surprise hit, grossing $76 million worldwide. MGM also nabbed a best picture Oscar nomination — the studio’s first in more than 30 years — for Mr. Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza.”
Mr. De Luca and Ms. Abdy successfully rejiggered the latest iteration of the James Bond franchise, ultimately delaying the film for a year before releasing “No Time to Die” in 2021 to the tune of $774 million worldwide.
News of the executives’ departure was reported earlier by The Hollywood Reporter.
In another memo to employees, Amazon’s top Prime Video executive, Mike Hopkins, said he would continue Mr. DeLuca and Ms. Abdy’s legacy of nurturing “quality storytelling.” He added that “is only going to expand, as we invest and work together to release an even larger theatrical slate in the years ahead.”
The different ways that MGM and Amazon operate were always going to make that marriage a difficult one for Mr. De Luca and Ms. Abdy. Amazon remains at its core a technology company primarily driven by data. In contrast, Mr. De Luca and Ms. Abdy, both veterans of the studio system, were raised in the culture of Hollywood where long-term relationships and gut feelings drive decisions on what movies to make.
Did you miss our previous article...
https://trendinginthenews.com/tech-giants/is-there-a-ceiling-on-internet-users
