New Line Cinema chief Richard Brener expected to join the new Paramount-Warner Bros. giant

Richard Brener, president and chief creative officer (CCO) of New Line Cinema and the company’s longest-serving employee, is expected to join the new merged Paramount–Warner Bros. studio, which will be called “Skydance”, as Deadline exclusively reports. Brener will continue to lead New Line under the new ownership as well.

The decision comes as Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to close early next week. As was announced on Friday, New Line and the other Warner Bros. labels will report to Paramount’s production co-chairs, Dana Golberg and Josh Greenstein. Unlike Warner Bros. film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who are leaving, Brener is one of the creative executives being kept at the company.

Brener has been part of New Line since 1995, hired by Michael De Luca himself as a temporary worker, and then climbed the company’s hierarchy. He has been the main pillar behind some of the most successful horror films of all time: the “The Conjuring” franchise, the “It” films based on Stephen King, the “Final Destination” franchise and its revival, as well as Zach Cregger’s “Weapons”. Just last year, “The Conjuring: Last Rites” grossed almost half a billion dollars worldwide, while “Final Destination: Bloodlines” marked $317.8 million — a franchise record. Beyond horror, Brener has also led successful comedies such as “The Wedding Singer”, “Wedding Crashers”, the “Sex and the City” films and the “Austin Powers” franchise.

With his move, a series of important New Line projects will come under the umbrella of the new company: Zach Cregger’s original sci-fi “The Flood” (11 August 2028), the “Weapons” prequel, “Gladys” (8 September 2028), Andy Serkis’s “The Hunt for Gollum” (17 December 2027), “Evil Dead Wrath” (7 August 2028) and “Final Destination 7” (12 May 2028).