Nolte: James Gunn Out at DC Studios, Marvel Guy to Replace

Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images James Gunn and Peter Safran have been fired as the co-presidents of DC Studios. Taking their place will be Marvel veteran Jeremy Latcham. This comes after David Ellison’s Skydance Paramount successfully gobbled up Warner Bros. Discovery, which includes DC Studios. This also comes as no surprise. DC Studios has not been performing well at all under Gunn and Safran. With a $618 million global haul, Superman (2025) might have broken even, though I doubt it. Regardless, it underperformed and no amount of spin from the gerbils in the entertainment media changes that. Supergirl (2026) was an outright catastrophe, grossing just $126 million worldwide on a production and promotion budget that edged into $300 million. In theaters now is Clayface, which probably cost around $100 million with promotion costs. That’s means a meager $200 million gross is needed for it to break even. Thus far it has only grossed $110 million. Even if Clayface breaks even or edges into profit, the whole idea behind these superhero franchises is to build momentum and excitement over what’s coming next. Clayface did not do that. As far as DC’s television record, Peacemaker did little to generate momentum for the DC brand and lasted only two seasons. The first season of Lanterns has sharply divided fans in a Star Wars kind of way, which no one wants. Gunn and Safran had four years and plenty of kicks at the cat to get the DC universe in gear, get it moving, and they have not done that. Not one breakout hit. Not one blockbuster. Instead, it’s been meh after flop after meh after flop. Not all of this is their fault. The whole DC brand is a mess. You have Batman movies over here (that are not part of Gunn’s universe). You have Joker movies over there (that are also not part of Gunn’s universe). The DC fans (if any remain) need a slide rule, charts, and a PowerPoint presentation just to keep track. This stuff should not be homework. It should be easy and fun escapism. Gunn still has his Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, scheduled for next year. So no one can look forward to that. My theory on Gunn is that he made one decent movie, the original Guardians of the Galaxy, and everything after was a reheated version of the same. Gunn’s sensibility worked that one time. The problem is that his sensibility — ironic distance, shallow snark, meta jokes, mocking the genre — wears pretty thin after a while. The first time we all feel smart for getting the jokes. After that, it feels like he’s mocking the audience for liking what they like. Gunn emitted an unmistakable hostility towards the fans, especially through characters like the Peacemaker and that dreadful Suicide Squad (2021) movie. Gunn and Safran’s last day is December 1.