Why Gunn and Safran lost DC Studios, and what comes next

James Gunn and Peter Safran learned they were finished at DC Studios three days before the public did. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Skydance co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz came to the pair's offices on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank on Friday, Nov. 6, and told them that, despite earlier assurances, they would not be part of the new Skydance studio.

Skydance confirmed the change Monday. Gunn and Safran are out as co-chairmen and CEOs of DC Studios, and former Marvel Studios executive Jeremy Latcham takes over as president and chief creative officer. The two leave their posts starting Dec. 1. They will keep producing DC projects, starting with the Superman sequel "Man of Tomorrow," now in post-production and due in theaters July 9, 2027.

THR's account, built on unnamed sources, adds the part Monday's announcement left out. It describes an exit driven by a fight over who DC answers to, by friction over how much the studio shared with its new owners, and by a view inside Skydance that even Gunn's biggest hit fell short.

A fight over who DC answers to

The structural issue may matter most in the long run. Before Skydance took over Warner Bros., Gunn and Safran reported directly to then-CEO David Zaslav. THR reports their contracts required the same direct line to the top after any change in ownership, which in this case meant Ellison.

That arrangement collided with Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, the co-chairs of the Skydance Motion Picture Group, who are working to bring all film production under their control. Gunn and Safran were used to running DC on their own terms. "They had the final word on movies, TV shows, and animation," one insider told THR. Multiple sources said the pair were not willing to accept another layer of management above them. Sources also said the DC heads were slow, or not forthcoming, in sharing plans, slate details and footage with the Skydance film chiefs.

Greenstein and Goldberg won. Latcham will report to them, not to Ellison. One THR source said Ellison never wanted DC reporting directly to him and had no patience for turf battles between division heads.

That shift is a bigger deal than the change of names on the door. Gunn and Safran ran DC film, TV and animation from one office, which is how a single plan connected "Superman" to HBO's "Peacemaker" and "Lanterns." DC now sits inside a larger film operation with its own priorities. That may make the studio easier to manage, but it gives up the one thing Gunn's tenure clearly delivered: a single voice deciding what DC is.

The box office case against the DCU

THR also reports that Skydance looked hard at the numbers. "Superman" grossed $618 million worldwide in 2025 and made money. In Skydance's view, though, it did not net out or make a cultural splash the way a Superman movie should. "Supergirl," starring Milly Alcock, earned about $126 million worldwide this summer against a reported $170 million budget, and the new regime saw it as a disaster.

The bright spot was "Clayface," a body-horror film released Oct. 21. It has taken in about $109 million on a $44 million budget, and THR says there had been talk of making more lean, scary DC films like it.

The "Supergirl" criticism is hard to argue with. Holding "Superman" to a higher bar is a tougher call. A profitable reboot that introduced a new Man of Steel and a sprawling supporting cast is a reasonable first step for a shared universe. Judging it as a disappointment suggests Skydance wants DC to compete with the biggest franchise films on the calendar, not to build slowly. "Clayface" points the other way. It shows a smaller, stranger DC film can make money, and nothing in the reporting says whether Latcham will keep that cheaper model.

A Marvel veteran with a faith-and-family résumé

THR called Latcham a surprising choice: not a big-name studio executive, but a producer who had left Hollywood for Texas to work independently. He joined Marvel in 2004 as an assistant to David Maisel, the executive who set up the studio's self-financed film model, and later became Kevin Feige's assistant and then a top deputy. Variety credits him as a producer on "Iron Man," "The Avengers" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming."

More recently he has worked with Wonder Project, a faith-focused studio, on "Flyer," a film about the Wright brothers, and the series "House of David." On the Bible Bros podcast, he described the company's mission this way: "Let's be the HBO for the faith and family audience."

THR says the move was in the works since early fall and began when Greenstein contacted Latcham. The two go back nearly 20 years, to when Greenstein worked in marketing at Paramount, which released the first two "Iron Man" films. They worked together again on "Spider-Man: Homecoming" when Greenstein was at Sony. Sources describe Latcham as a hands-on producer who likes to be on set. At Marvel, they say, he was known for asking whether his grandparents would enjoy a movie. Multiple sources told THR he is better suited than Gunn to Ellison's broader tastes.

There is an irony here. THR reports that Latcham pushed for Marvel to hire Gunn for "Guardians of the Galaxy," the 2014 film that made him an A-list director. The man who helped launch Gunn's career is replacing him. According to THR, the two had not spoken about the handoff when the news broke and planned a phone call Monday afternoon. Latcham is still stepping away from projects he was producing, including a big-budget "Naruto" film for Lionsgate and Sony.

Gunn's own account sounds less like a man pushed out and more like one relieved to go. In a long post Monday, he called his four years running the studio "trying, to say the least" and said he disliked the at-times corporate side of the job. He credited Safran with absorbing most of it. He also said he was "incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking." He said he and Safran have been hired for another DC project that he is writing, and added, "the characters we set up will live on." Safran also has the "Conjuring" horror franchise at Warner Bros.

What survives of the Superman plan

The first casualty may be Gunn's long-range plan. THR's sources say he was writing a third Superman film as part of a trilogy, with a new Superman movie every two years and a possible path to a Justice League team-up. It is unclear whether he will get to finish any of it.

"Man of Tomorrow" is safe for now. It finished shooting in late August and brings back David Corenswet as Superman, Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Rachel Brosnahan and Skyler Gisondo. Newcomers include Lars Eidinger as Brainiac and Adria Arjona as Maxima. Beyond that film, the picture is murky:

Batman: Last month, Gunn said DC was nearly ready to cast the DCU's Batman for "The Brave and the Bold." That film's future is now in doubt. Matt Reeves' separate "The Batman Part II" is still dated for Feb. 18, 2028. Steven Soderbergh stepped in to help finish the shoot after Reeves stepped away for a family matter.
HBO series: "Lanterns" has no announced second season. "Peacemaker" has been neither renewed for a third season nor canceled. A second season of the animated "Creature Commandos" is expected next year.
In development: James Mangold's "Swamp Thing" and "The People v. Gorilla Grodd," a script Gunn singled out in his post, are still in the works. So is a long-rumored "Wonder Woman" film. A "Paradise Lost" Wonder Woman series for HBO was scrapped this summer.

That leaves Latcham with a franchise that has a strong Superman and a lot of unfinished pieces. Few characters are locked in, which gives him room to reshape DC. But it also asks fans to commit to yet another version of these heroes. One source told THR that whether fans will keep investing before the rug is pulled out again is a real concern. The next real test comes July 9, when audiences see the last Superman movie Gunn will make as the person in charge.