Following the announcement that he and Peter Safran would no longer co-lead DC Studios following the Skydance-Warner Bros. merger, James Gunn spoke about his time at the studio.
In the lengthy statement Gunn posted on his social media platforms, he shares how proud he is of his four years at DC Studios, lists some of all the projects he has overseen during that time while also touching on his partnership with Safran, who he described as “the smartest and most capable person” he knows.
Gunn also admits that the four years at the top of DC Studios were “grueling” and that he became “at odds with the corporate nature of the job at times.”
This statement comes after Skydance opted to replace Gunn and Safran with veteran Latcham as president and chief creative officer of DC Studios. Gunn and Safran will continue to produce on various DC projects and return to their creative work full-time. They are currently stationed on the Superman following, The man of tomorrow which will be released in theaters on July 9, 2027.
You can read Gunn’s statement in full below:
“Oh, boy. What a four year old.”
“Thank you to all of you who supported me and Peter during our time running DC Studios. When I was a kid growing up in Manchester, Missouri, I wrote and drew my own comic books with a mix of DC Comics characters and my own characters. Having full access to these characters to do whatever we wanted was a dream come true. I wasn’t sure if I wanted this job when it was offered to me, but I just couldn’t pass it up this unique opportunity. I am happy to have accepted this position.
“There have been so many peaks along the way – releasing Superman And clay facemanufacturing Peacemakerby reading the scripts for The people againstthe whole process of The man of tomorrow, which has been the best cinematic experience of my life so far, and many other moments.
“The highest of all has been all the talented and wonderful people I have worked with and grown to love: the team at DC Studios, our talented collaborators, our cast and crew, and the loud and hilarious fans. And best of all has been working with Peter Safran, the smartest and most knowledgeable person I know. You have been the best partner a person could ask for and, more than that, a very good friend.”
“But what only those closest to me have experienced over the past four years is that my time at DC Studios has been trying to say the least. I don’t like the corporate nature of the work at times (shout out to Peter for bearing the brunt). I’m still a very hard worker, but as a filmmaker I would at least have the opportunity to take short breaks to relax, and I’ve even stolen that time from myself and those close to me 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 (I don’t do that job anymore)) And the thing my ADHD hyperfocus has had the most difficulty with has been dividing my time between the projects I’m incredibly passionate about and the ones I’m not so passionate about and all the things I have to do as a studio head.
So, yes, I will miss the people around me and I will miss being a co-custodian of these great characters, but I am also incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure cinema.
This isn’t to say that Peter and I are immediately done with DC or superheroes. We have The man of tomorrow released this summer. And we just worked on another DC project that I’m writing, and we’ll see where it takes us after that. And of course, the characters we created will live on.
Thank you so much for embracing the characters and stories we brought to the screen.
Love and gratitude,
James Gunn
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