James Gunn and Peter Safran delivered a shocker on Monday when they announced they were stepping down as co-heads of the DC Studios, four years after taking charge. The move comes immediately after Warner Bros. Discovery, DC’s parent company, merged with Paramount to create Skydance, a new entity. In a social media post, James Gunn addressed his sudden departure and hinted at the reason.
James Gunn’s statement on DC exit
James Gunn shared a long statement on his departure from DC Studios on Monday on his official Instagram account. The filmmaker spoke about the highs and lows of his time at the studio, focusing on creating Peacemaker and releasing Superman and Clayface. However, he also spoke about the lows, particularly the job’s corporate nature.
“But what only the closest people to me have known over the past four years is my time at DC Studios has been trying, to say the least. I dislike the at-times corporate nature of the job (thanks to Peter for taking the brunt of that). I’m always a very hard worker, but as a filmmaker I would at least get to take short breaks to unwind, and I’ve stolen even that time from both myself and my loved ones over the past four years (Jenn, I love you and I’m sorry, and you don’t need to feel guilty for being the happiest of all people that I’m no longer doing this job). And 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,” the filmmaker wrote.
Gunn, known for directing hit films such as Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, added that he was relieved that he could now return to ‘pure filmmaking’ without worrying about being a studio head. “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,” he added.
But Gunn also added that he is not immediately done with DC characters. He is directing Man of Tomorrow, the sequel to his Superman. “That’s not to say Peter and I are immediately done with DC or superheroes. We have Man of Tomorrow out this summer. And we’ve 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,” the filmmaker wrote.
Jeremy Latcham replaces James Gunn and Peter Safran
On Monday, Skydance Corp. named Jeremy Latcham president and chief creative officer of DC Studios, succeeding James Gunn and Peter Safran, who will return full-time to creative pursuits.
During their four-year tenure, Gunn and Safran laid out a 10-year plan to revitalise DC Studios. They oversaw the production and release of Superman, which earned more than $618 million at the global box office, and the follow-up, Supergirl, which underperformed. Most recently, they delivered the critically acclaimed Clayface, which has grossed more than $109 million worldwide.