Be careful what you wish for.

That may well be the sentiment over on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, as the new Skydance overlords get under the hood of the film slate left behind by former co-chairs of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group. Warners ex-film bosses Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy are notorious for their free-spending ways. Apparently, the results ain’t pretty! 

Knowledgeable sources estimate that the recently ousted duo’s 2026 slate will lose north of $800 million, a colossal figure that represents a $250 million write-off for “Digger” alone and more than $100 million for “The Bride.”

And the prognosis might get worse before it gets better.

The studio’s 2027 slate includes several films that have left Skydance higher-ups deeply concerned, most notably a $120-plus million Nancy Meyers rom-com, a JJ Abrams sci-fi tentpole pushed back a year and a $160 million (!) Julia Roberts-Sam Esmail psychological thriller that is leaving everyone questioning the mental state of the previous regime considering some of these deals.

“They won their Oscar [for ‘One Battle After Another’], then moved all of their problem children out of the year,” says one source of De Luca and Abdy and the looming disasters in 2027. (It’s worth noting that even “One Battle” ultimately lost $75 million, according to sources.) 

Another source with a vantage of the simmering situation calls the duo’s spending “beyond reckless.”

Skydance and Warner Bros. reps declined comment. De Luca and Abdy did not respond to a request for comment.

Meyers’ movie, which stars Penelope Cruz, Kiernan Culkin and Jude Law and is tentatively titled “Paris Paramount,” is expected to go down as the most expensive rom-com ever, edging James L. Brooks’ 2010 flop “How Do You Know,” which at least boasted a starrier cast at the time with Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson.

(“Paris Paramount” initially had Scarlett Johansson, a bona fide box office draw as the lead, but she dropped out.)

Ironically, Netflix’s film head Dan Lin, who recently was shown the door, now looks like a genius given that he passed on “Digger,” “The Bride” and “Paris Paramount.” (When it comes to culpability on the “Digger” debacle, Warners insiders point to Abdy, who positioned herself as the Alejandro González Iñárritu whisperer thanks to their collaboration on “The Revenant.”)

The Hollywood press has continued to push the prospect that Abdy and/or De Luca will land in Lin’s job. But sources inside Netflix say that seems less likely by the day considering that the streaming giant desperately needs to soothe a jittery Wall Street.

“Everything Netflix is doing right now is to please the Street. Why would you hire the two people that had a historic run of losses?” asks one high-ranking executive.

Furthermore, Abdy and De Luca are no longer being shopped as a package deal and appear to be going their separate ways. One insider adds, “The blame game has begun.”

Skydance film co-bosses Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein don’t have many options at their disposal for 2027, and must tread carefully as they are being scrutinized by the industry’s creative community skeptical that this new company and its executives will honor the promises they made throughout Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Recall that when Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav shelved the completed film Coyote vs. Acme in 2023 to claim a $30 million tax write-down, whatever goodwill existed within the creative industry evaporated and Zaslav’s reputation never recovered.

“I can guarantee Josh and Dana will be audience testing all the movies they inherited,” says a Hollywood source. “You have to go back and determine what is the value of these films? What can I expect to get out of them domestically, internationally and in the ancillary windows, like SVOD? Then you can decide, ‘What should I spend on the marketing?’ They may not like all the movies, but each one is worth something because when they bought the company they paid for them.”

When Warners moved Abrams’ “The Great Beyond” to 2027, we were assured at Page Six Hollywood that it was because the film tested so well that it warranted the IMAX treatment and thus needed more time. But that appears to be a convenient excuse, according to sources, and the film was not testing well just four months before its original Nov. 13, 2026, release.

Then again, De Luca and Abdy do have a history of proving naysayers wrong, and these bets could still perform at the box office. Still, most executives who have faced belt-tightening in the current era of austerity, marvel at the duo’s budgets.

Perhaps the biggest cause for concern is the aptly titled “Panic Carefully,” a thriller written and directed by Esmail which stars Roberts, Elizabeth Olsen, Eddie Redmayne, and Brian Tyree Henry. That film, which will be released on April 9 has a budget of $160 million, a head-scratching figure approaching the bonkers $170 million-plus “Digger” threshold.

“They don’t know what to do with that film,” said a source.