James Gunn resigns as head of DC.
The creator of the best Marvel film trilogy, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the new Superman, James Gunn has led DC Studios, a division of Warner Bros., since 2022, along with producer Peter Safran. As Deadline points out, in Hollywood, directors don't usually run studios; Rare exceptions include Charlie Chaplin. Gunn didn't just write scripts and direct movies: Sabran's mission was to reboot the entire DC cinematic universe.
The studio, which owns the rights to the most famous superheroes, Superman and Batman, has not been nearly as successful in building a universe as its main competitor, Marvel. They started repeating the same formula (solo superhero movies alternating with team movies), but when director Zack Snyder left the project in 2017, they abandoned that business and started releasing almost unrelated projects, each weaker than the other.
Gunn and a librarian had to fix everything. It worked out really well for them: "Superman" performed well at the box office, as did the low-budget Clayface, the studio's first body horror. However, there was a disastrous "Supergirl".
Perhaps the duo's departure is related to the recent deal between Paramount and Warner Bros. (the former bought the latter). The official explanation is that the librarian was out of contract and Gan was just tired of working in a corporate job. The manager said that among the projects he had to oversee, not all of them really interested him.
Gunn will continue to direct films for DC, with the next film, a Superman sequel called Tomorrow Man, due out in the summer of 2027. Vesperan, according to Deadline, is expected to take the place of head of Netflix's film division.