James Gunn and Peter Safran’s time as the heads of DC Studios has ended, per an explosive report in The Hollywood Reporter. The duo, who had spearheaded a new take on DC’s classic stall of characters building up to a unified storytelling universe similar to the MCU, will remain involved with several ongoing DC Studios projects. But the division will now be lead by Marvel veteran Jeremy Latcham.
Gunn and Safran had laid out a decade’s worth of plans for their expansive take on Superman, Batman, and more. However, the creative and commercial failings of this summer’s Supergirl may have been too much for David Ellison’s newly formed Skydance entertainment empire, which now encompasses Warner Bros. Studios and thus, DC.
The full impact of this news on future projects, including the upcoming Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow and recently greenlit HBO Max series The People vs. Gorilla Grodd, has yet to come in focus. However, Gunn posted in a very positive way about the development on Instagram, stating that he’d found his time as head of DC Studios “trying, to say the least,” due to not enjoying “the at-times corporate nature of the job.”
“The thing my ADHD hyperfocus has had the most difficulty with has been dividing my time between projects I’m incredibly passionate about and the ones I’m not so much and all the things I have to do as a studio head,” he wrote. “So, yes, I will miss the people around me, and I will miss being the co-caretaker of these great characters, but I’m also incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking.”
Gunn confirmed that in addition to Man of Tomorrow (out next summer), he and Safran have “just been engaged on another DC project which I’m writing, and we’ll see where it goes after that. And, of course, the characters we set up will live on.”
Check out Gunn’s Instagram post below.
