Movie fans are still recovering from Monday’s bombshell that James Gunn and Peter Safran are out at DC Studios. The move came as their latest film, Clayface, does well at the box office; another, The Batman Part II, fights production delays to get into theaters ASAP; and their overarching story is set to continue with next year’s Man of Tomorrow.
What Gunn and Safran didn’t foresee when all that began to percolate was Skydance. The company, which had already acquired Paramount in 2025, acquired Warner Bros. in 2026, and its CEO David Ellison came in with a new vision. Originally, it seemed as if Gunn and Safran were part of that vision. But since the news broke, several different versions of the story have emerged that say otherwise.
As one would expect, the Hollywood trades were all over the DC exit, speaking to sources across the industry. The Hollywood Reporter’s story claims that Gunn and Safran, who were originally announced as being part of the new Warner Bros. team, were told last Friday, November 6, that plans had changed. The Wrap talked to some sources who backed up that version of the story, as well as others who claimed the move happened over the weekend. Basically, whatever the actual case is, it seems very likely the ousting happened rather fast for Gunn and Safran.
The pair are being replaced by Jeremy Latcham, a former Marvel Studios executive. And, according to reports, Latcham may have been aware of this well before Gunn and Safran. The Hollywood Reporter talked to a source who said Latcham had been contacted earlier this fall about the possibility of taking over the studio.
So why the changes? Well, besides some of the bigger, more obvious reasons why Ellison would want Gunn and Safran out (Supergirl bombing, Superman failing to meet expectations, lack of clarity around Batman), apparently much of the tension also had to do with corporate structure. Under their previous deal, Gunn and Safran only answered to Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav. There was no intermediary between them and the boss.
Under Skydance and Ellison, though, that was likely to change, with the pair reporting not to Ellison himself but to the new co-chairs of Skydance Motion Picture Group, Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg. That duo was put in place to oversee movies at both Paramount and Warner Bros., which saw Gunn and Safran’s former colleagues, Pam Addy and Michael DeLuca, similarly shown the door.
Basically, Gunn and Safran were used to reporting to the boss, and now they would’ve reported to someone under the boss, and no one really liked that.
Latcham is expected to be fine with it, though, and since the announcement, there’s been much speculation about what his version of DC Studios might be. Many point to the fact that while Latcham’s claim to fame was his early work with Kevin Feige and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (he also played a key role in hiring Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy), he’s more recently pivoted in another direction.
“An occasional foray into big-budget moviemaking such as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves notwithstanding, Latcham was focusing on inspirational movies such as the Wright Brothers feature Flyer for the faith-focused studio Wonder Project, where he also helped make House of David, a TV show about the biblical figure,” the Hollywood Reporter writes. “The producer is known to be vocal about his Christian faith and his desire to make uplifting projects.” He even appeared on a podcast called Bible Bros. to talk about Wonder Project. “Let’s be the HBO for the faith and family audience. Let’s try to make movies and television shows that restore faith in things worth believing in,” he said.
What effect, if any, Latcham’s faith-forward values will have on the future of DC won’t be revealed for some time. First, he’ll have to deal with everything that’s currently on the table from Gunn and Safran and decide what to keep, what to discard, and how to move forward. He’ll have to contend with the fact that, no matter what, Gunn’s story will be continuing next summer in Man of Tomorrow. That there’s a weird DC show called The People vs. Gorilla Grodd in production. Plus, there’s that not-so-tiny issue of having a Batman movie on the way that is detached from everything else.
Basically, it’s a messy situation from top to bottom, and everyone is still trying to put the puzzle together. For even more details, head over to the Wrap and the Hollywood Reporter for what we think are the best deep dives.
Want more io9 news? Check out the best movies and TV shows to stream this month and all the upcoming sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books that should be on your radar.
