Every studio takeover ends with the new bosses going through the drawers. When Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy took over Warner Bros., the already-shot Batgirl was shelved and Coyote vs. Acme was written down and sold. When Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein moved into Paramount, the R-rated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film The Last Ronin never reached a greenlight, and a family-aimed live-action reboot took its place. Now the Skydance Pictures co-chairs get the same job on a far bigger inheritance: the Warner Bros. theatrical slates arriving at the merged Skydance.

As Deadline’s Matt Grobar and Anthony D’Alessandro lay it out, the first fire to put out is Barbie 2. The ideal version brings back Greta Gerwig to direct and co-write with Noah Baumbach, with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling returning to star in a sequel to the highest-grossing film in Warner Bros. history. Deadline’s list files it under one word: priority.

Behind it, the inheritance splits into finished films and projects still taking shape. On the ready side sit Dune: Part Three; M. Night Shyamalan’s Remain, which just screened at Beyond Fest; James Gunn’s Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow; J.J. Abrams’ original sci-fi film The Great Beyond, starring Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega; an untitled Ocean’s prequel that Bradley Cooper co-wrote, directs and stars in opposite Margot Robbie; and Andy Serkis’ The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

The harder cases are the ones still open. Deadline reports that Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II is paused. Gladys, the New Line prequel to Weapons, is awaiting a final draft before a director is attached. Baz Luhrmann’s Jehanne d’Arc is waiting on its next draft, and Chris Columbus’ Gremlins 3 on rewrites. Further out are Drew Goddard writing Matrix 5, a live-action Jetsons with Jim Carrey starring and Colin Trevorrow attached to direct, and Tim Burton’s reimagining of Attack of the Fifty-Foot Woman.

David Ellison has promised more than franchises. “We’re going to make a complete diverse slate,” he said. “One of the things I’m a big believer in is original storytelling.” Warner Bros. will operate separately from Paramount Pictures, and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz said each studio keeps its own slate and relationships, while the company will “choreograph the release schedule, and optimize it by genre and by audience demographic.”

Dune: Part Three opens Dec. 18, Man of Tomorrow is dated July 9, 2027 and The Hunt for Gollum Dec. 17, 2027, with The Batman Part II set for Feb. 18, 2028 and Gladys for Sept. 8, 2028. Ellison is promising a pro-forma content spend above $30 billion a year against $79 billion in net debt, after doubling Paramount’s output to 15 films annually. Deadline even asks whether the company might pay the $30 million penalty for each film it fails to deliver on its 30-picture commitment rather than risk $300 million on a single gamble.

Above all of that sits the sequel to a $1.44 billion hit, and its original team still has to say yes.

Tags: Greta Gerwig, Warner Bros., executive-move, Barbie 2, Dana Goldberg, Josh Greenstein

Barbie 2 tops the Warner Bros to-do list Skydance film chiefs Goldberg and Greenstein inherit

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