Gunn Holstered: New Leadership For DC Studios as Gunn/Safran Are Out
Former Marvel exec Jeremy Latcham will be stepping in to run things in December.
In a move that should surprise no one, it was revealed earlier this week that James Gunn is out as co-head of DC Studios. Following the acquisition of Warner Bros. by David Ellison's Paramount/Skydance in October, it had been said that Gunn and Peter Safron (the other half of DC Studios) would be sticking around following the merger. However, word on the street is that Ellison himself and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz went in person to tell the duo that plans had changed and that they would no longer be helming DC Studios. The Hollywood trades then reported that Gunn and Safron were "stepping down" fro their positions, with their last day being December 1, 2026.
Stepping in to replace Gunn and Safron is a former Marvel producer named Jeremy Latcham. Latcham is notable for having worked on the Marvel movies from the beginning with Iron Man in 2008, and didn't leave until 2017. Now, Ellison and Kreiz are tapping him as their man to right the ship for DC Studios. Some are aghast and shocked that Gunn and Safron were removed, but the writing has been on the wall for the majority of the duo's four-year tenure.
The lone hit produced by Gunn/Safran was Superman, which was nonetheless considered an underperformer according to testimony provided to Congress back when Netflix was trying to purchase Warner Bros. Supergirl was an abomination; Clayface was a modest hit, with an emphasis on modest as the movie didn't move the needle for the DCU in any meaningful way; Lanterns was raved about by critics (and at best polarizing to viewers) but didn't do much in terms of streaming numbers, the same as season two of Peacemaker. It's been hundreds of millions of dollars invested in projects that have gone nowhere for the past four years.
With Ellison and Kreiz trying to build something from their $110 billion purchase, it wouldn't have made sense to keep Gunn and Safran in charge of DC Studios. Gunn's tastes resulted in esoteric media projects that appealed to few and never laid the proper foundation for IPs intended to be stamped on lunchboxes and line the toy shelves at Target. It's hard to get families into theaters or surrounding the TV at home with drug-fueled orgies, obscene language, drunken lushes for lead characters, and gratuitous violence, yet that's what Gunn and Safran's DCU kept churning out.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
