Among the top studios, Warners faces the greatest uncertainty with the planned AT&T acquisition of parent Time Warner. Most observers don't see the $85 billion deal being blocked in a Trump administration, though the mercurial president-elect did suggest it might be in October. Assuming the purchase goes through (and months will pass before the review is concluded), the question is what influence Peter Chernin will wield. Rupert Murdoch's former No. 2 has business dealings with AT&T and industry insiders find it hard to imagine that CEO Randall Stephenson won't seek guidance from one of the industry's most seasoned and courted executives. All the more reason for the Warners film team to try to impress with a strong performance in 2017.

The new year sees a new order with Toby Emmerich promoted in December. "We have the right leadership in place, with Toby taking on Warner Bros. Pictures in addition to New Line and partnering with Sue [Kroll], who will continue to run the best marketing and distribution teams in the business," Warner Bros. chairman Kevin Tsujihara, 52, tells The Hollywood Reporter.

The challenge for Emmerich, 53, will be to get the franchise house in order while managing a far larger slate than ever before in his career. But with the year's movies already packing the pipeline, he won't necessarily get much credit or blame for the 2017 lineup.

He has inherited a likely early winner with The Lego Batman Movie in February and will have another animated offering with The Lego Ninjago Movie in September. In live action, the studio will want Kong: Skull Island to work in March as it is the first in a trilogy with Legendary that is supposed to culminate with the giant ape facing off with Godzilla. But the money question is whether the studio can get those DC Comics movies to fire on all cylinders. If Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman works with audiences and critics in June, that would be a fine thing for Tsujihara. The next test will come with Justice League in November, when audiences will see whether director Zack Snyder really got the memo on what many saw as the overly dark tone of Batman v. Superman.

Warners has some potential trouble in Guy Ritchie's long-delayed and very costly King Arthur on May 12. Another big summer play is Christopher Nolan's World War II battle movie Dunkirk, not the usual popcorn-season fare, but few executives would bet against Nolan. On Oct. 20, the studio faces another expensive question mark with producer Dean Devlin's directorial debut, Geostorm. THR has reported on costly reshoots on the environmental disaster film and its release has been pushed twice. But in October, Warners also has Blade Runner 2049 with Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) directing Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford.

Emmerich is known as one of the town's more astute corporate players, so insiders will watch him manage an environment that has bred a series of power struggles for some years now. A source with longtime ties to the studio anticipates possible tension with Kroll, who had been part of the triumvirate in charge of the film studio along with Emmerich and the now-departed Greg Silverman. Emmerich's promotion gives him shared greenlight authority with Tsujihara.

Tsujihara is said to have gotten deeply immersed in picking movies, but also look for him (as well as Universal's Jeff Shell and the Murdochs at Fox) to focus on the windows issue. "We'll continue to innovate to deliver the great content audiences want, when and where they want it, including by working with our exhibitor partners to provide greater access to new releases," he says. "It's an exciting time in our industry, despite the challenges, and I know we'll continue to deliver great results."