Warner Bros. Launches New Contemporary Film Studio Led by Former NEON Executives

Amid the massive sale of Warner Bros. Discovery, the division Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group directed by Michael de Luca and Pam Abdy, puts new film studio launched.

He new contemporary film studio will be led by Christian Parkesmarketing director of NEONwho left the independent film studio this week, and now we know why.

Parkes has been the architect of the marketing campaigns for acclaimed projects such as Longlegs and the Oscar winner, Parasite.

Jason Wald y Spencer Collantestwo of Parkes' colleagues at NEON, also left the indie studio to join Parkes at WB.

The new studio by the aforementioned trio, will focus exclusively on global film releases with tight budgets and innovative marketing campaigns.

“De Luca and Abdy have a long history of supporting emerging filmmakers, and this label offers the opportunity to discover new cinematic voices“Deadline reported.”The initiative seeks meet display demand for more products and one more diverse range of titles, beyond box office hits”.

Wald will be Director of Acquisitions and Production, and Collantes will be Vice President of Marketing and Creative. Wald most recently served as Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Production at NEON, and Collantes was Vice President of Creative Marketing at NEON.

The studio is expected to officially unveil its name for the Sundance Film Festival scheduled to take place in late January in Park City, Utah.

OTHER DETAILS ABOUT THE NEW CONTEMPORARY FILM STUDIO

• It will focus on low-cost films, aimed at digital natives and generation Z.
• You will use content that sets the trend.
• With targeted and highly efficient marketing with both independent and acquired projects, and new films developed internally for world premiere in theaters.
• Unlike the classics Warner Independent and Picturehouse, the new studio will be very focused on appealing to the demographic with two to three titles a year, instead of the half dozen that Warner Independent released a year.

This new label/studio was planned ahead of plans to split Warner Bros. Discovery (in the film and TV studios, and the Discovery Global division) and before accepting Netflix's offer with which the streamer seeks to acquire the Warner Bros. film studios, and the HBO television production, and HBO Max.

David Zaslav, DeLuca and Abdy saw the opportunity to bring more films to the cinema market with competitive prices, applying innovative and specific promotional campaigns for each release, focused on digital.

According to information that WBD disclosed to its shareholders in the third quarter of 2025, “the film division's future release strategy will include between one and two major Warner Bros. Pictures productions based on well-known Warner Bros. intellectual properties; between one and two films from DC Studios; between three and four releases from New Line Cinema (including horror and comedy); between one and two films from WB Animation; and a selection of moderate-budget original films.”

The new label will continue to contribute to the offer of moderate budget original films from the study, with a goal of two or three annual titles.

And although Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has said that with the purchase of the studios he will remain loyal to the Warner Bros. business of releasing its projects in cinema, neither Sarandos nor the streamer have made it clear what that exhibition window will look like, that is, will it continue to be under the Netflix model with limited releases of two weeks before reaching the platform, or will it be under a traditional release?

The newly announced new studio will join the four other live-action studios that make up Warner Bros. Pictures Group: Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment and Spyglass Media Group (with a minority stake).