James Gunn and Peter Safran have shocked the industry with news that they are walking away from their roles as co-CEOs of DC Studios.
The duo, who’ve held the roles for four years, will be formally separated from those titles at the top of December, per a press release shared by Skydance on Monday (Nov. 9). For those unfamiliar, DC Studios is a subsidiary of Skydance, which owns both Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.
In a statement shared to Instagram, Gunn said the “best part” of his DC tenure was having the chance to work alongside Safran.
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“You’ve been the best partner a person could ask for, and, more so, a truly good friend,” Gunn said Monday. “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.”
Gunn praised Safran for “taking the brunt” of the more corporate aspects of the gig, which he didn’t much care for, and highlighted the job’s all-consuming nature as being particularly difficult due to him having to divide his time between “projects I’m incredibly passionate about” and those he’s not.
Jeremy Latcham, a name that should ring familiar to Marvel fans, has been picked by Skydance to take on the role of president and chief creative officer at DC. In a joint statement, Gunn and Safran expressed optimism about what Latcham will bring to the table moving forward.
“Four years ago, we set out to unite DC under one creative vision,” the two said. “In that time, we helped restore Superman to the heart of DC, while opening new doors and telling new stories in film and television with Peacemaker, Creature Commandos, Lanterns, and Clayface. We’re immensely proud of the team that turned that ambition into something real, including the actors, crews, and executives we had the opportunity to collaborate with.”
Gunn and Safran continued: “We’ve shared a creative history with Jeremy going back to Marvel, and we’re eager to see the perspective he brings to DC’s next chapter. We’re excited to return to what drew us to this job in the first place, which is telling the stories we love, including the next chapter of Clark and Lex’s journey in Man of Tomorrow.”
In his own statement, Latcham said he’s “excited and honored for the opportunity to now lead DC Studios into its next era.”
Clayface, the most recent DC Studios title, earned strong reviews from critics and has amassed roughly $109 million at the global box office as of this writing.
