Paul Thomas AndersonS Latest movie with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role -When, on an important PTA mode, still does not have an official title-packer a budget that is not only several times higher than anything that the 11 o’clock Oscar-nominated director has ever worked with, but much larger than his films have ever earned at the checkout.
Some reports fasted it to $ 180 million, but an individual with knowledge tells IndieWire that it is actually $ 130 million. It almost as much as what Andnsons is most successful film So far “there will be blood”, which was made globally in 2007 ($ 76 million), if you factor inflation ($ 143 million).
It is also much more than the budget for his previous film, 2021’s “Lakrit pizza”, which seemed as a big game, even with $ 40 million. It turns out that that movie only collected $ 33 million globally. But even though Anderson has moved from MGM to Warner Bros., gave the same film managers Anderson both of these great budgets: Mike de Luca and Pam Abdy.
Since taking over as film managers in 2022 after the merger of Warner Bros. And Discovery, De Luca and Abdy, or “Mike and Pam”, have had to rebuild a good will for the studio. First it was ”Project popcorn ”from the old regimeAnd then it was the corporate cancellation of finished films such as “Batj“And”Coyote vs. Acme. “
One strategy for theirs has been to give brand film creators a lot of trust and money. That list includes Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Emerald Fennell, Barry Levinson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, JJ Abrams, Zach Cregger, Paul Greengrass, Sam Esmail and more.
But with that confidence has been added to review, with Bloomberg Recently reported that WBD -vd David Zaslav asked about De Luca and Abdy’s expenses after their first large green light, “Joker: Folia with two“Be a spectacular flop.
Despite the story that they throw a fortune at Authurs, Mike and Pam’s slate are still a mixture of original projects and more traditional IP. This year, “Minecraft”, “Mortal Kombat II”, and a new “Contrying” movie, with an animated “Cat in the Hat” movie ’26 and new “Matrix,” Oceans “,” Gremlins “,” Goonies “and” Lord of the Rings “films in development. And they have as many other film -made titles as other studios, whether it is universal with Christopher Nolan, Daniels and Jordan Peele or Paramount with Damien Chazelle.
What is different here is that with Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” which has just been released, is the last Straggler from the Toby Emmerich era behind them. For the first time, everything on the horizon is completely its own. Levinson’s “The Alto Knights” on March 21 and Cooglers “Sinner“Next month, an ambitious and risky driving of pet projects that feels like a mark or break moment will start.
“What we all applaud and hope for, they do. These two not only trust their (franchise sequels) and their IP. They go for a walk, ”a producer told with a movie at the studio to IndieWire.
The producer pointed to best image winner Sean Baker’s latest Oscars talk about putting movies in theaters and taking chances on filmmakers and said that De Luca and Abdy’s strategy are “everything they should do” and that “no one loves movies more than Mike.”
For example, much has been reported on how Warner Bros. Won Fennell’s “Wuther Heights” Over a higher bid from Netflix because of her desire to go theatrical. But the producer wonders if the safer IP initiatives are strange all pressed until later 2025. Just because they are big swings, it doesn’t mean they are right.
“Where I think people have problems is that they are big swings that are not open, even though they are original, they feel less commercial and more about the names and personalities associated with them,” said the producer, whether it is pairing cooogler with Michael B. Jordan, Anderson with DiCrio, or or Inarritu with Tom Cruise. “It does not seem to the outside world that it is about the quality of the material and the passion of the material; It’s more about the heading. The second brush is that it costs too much. Yes, you have these bets, but do you take the best bets with the pictures you have? ”
This kind of thinking is getting people to take a closer look at some of the titles that come on slate. Coogler’s “sinner” pairs him again with Jordan, but it is a genre that the director has never played in before. Anderson’s film remains a mystery, but the word is that it is a greater extent and role than he has ever tackled. Gyllenhaal is an exciting new voice as a filmmaker, but a “Bride of Frankenstein” movie is its own great departure.
An insider suggests that these are not outside wall play but all are part of the plan, take more familiar IP and genres and entrust filmmakers to give it their own spin. De Luca and Abdy hope to replicate that model with what Drew Goddard cooking for “The Matrix” or with a director as Susanne Bier Revisiting “Practical magic” with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
But the producer claims that some of the cynicism around the city must come from somewhere and speculate that Warner Bros. Discovery Board may be wondering why they do no more to break the IP library as Disney does.
In that sense, the “Joker” sequel was the perfect marriage with gigantic, seemingly idiot-proof IP and a new film team that gave Carte Blanche to a filmmaker like Todd Phillips. The budget increased, and so did the ambitions, And it still bombed. In the aftermath, the idea around the city is that at least it was not a cynical cash grip. But it is also the same conversation that most other managers would have done. Mike and Pam did it.
“It’s a cool vine to die on if you have to die,” the producer said. “But you can’t do something that is a total rug from what the audience really wants.”
