Warner Bros President of Business Affairs, Steve Spira, will be leaving at the end of the year, we have learned.
Spira, reported directly into Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Motion Picture Chairpeople Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. We understand that Spira’s departure boiled down to the completion of his duties.
No word as to who’ll replace Spira yet. We hear the process for a replacement hasn’t begun yet.
Spira joined Warners in 1985 and departed in November 2020 during the AT&T regime. He was known for being a dealmaker, hatching pacts with Clint Eastwood and Christopher Nolan. When Zaslav arrived at the new conglomerate, he sought to have Spira, a long-trusted exec, back in the fold. Spira returned in June 2022; this was a month before former Warner Bros production boss Alan Horn became a consultant for the studio post his Disney run.
Warner Bros has been in the black in what has been a big rebound year at the global box office under De Luca and Abdy. They were the first studio to cross $4 billion worldwide, even with the Paul Thomas Anderson pricey pic, One Battle After Another, which cost around $140M net (shot in California), and had grossed over $202 million around the world. Out of the top 20 movies at the global box office this year, Warner Bros owns eight of them, including the third highest movie YTD (second highest for a Hollywood production), A Minecraft Movie with over $957M. At the North American box office, the Legendary co-production is the top grossing title of the year with $423.9M million. The next big theatrical release for Warner Bros is on Feb. 13, the Margot Robbie-Jacob Elordi starring, Emerald Fennell directed Wuthering Heights.
