Ever since Discovery bought and disrupted everything at Warner Bros earlier this year, one of their biggest mandates among many others—that included saving money and scrapping films like “Batgirl” and “The Wonder Twins”—was finding someone to be their equivalent of Marvel’s Kevin Feige; a creative exec who knows how to lead DC Films to similar success. And after a search that took them months and had many names in the mix, including producer Dan Lin, who came close to taking the job, the company has now found someone to lead DC.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker James Gunn (“The Suicide Squad”) and producer Peter Safran (“Black Adam,” “Aquaman,” the “Conjuring” films) will co-lead the newly branded DC Studios. The duo will act as co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Studios, which is replacing the DC Films name. This news comes as the studio is reportedly in early development or early eagerness of a “Man of Steel” sequel with Henry Cavill back in the Superman role following his recent appearance at the end of “Black Adam.”
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The deal is said to be four years. Gunn will focus on the creative side and will continue to direct various projects, while Safran will focus on the business and production side of things. They will report directly to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and work closely with new Warners film bosses Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy.
Veteran producer Dan Lin was almost tapped for the gig but eventually passed to focus on his production company.
Gunn was previously behind DC’s “The Suicide Squad” and the HBO Max series spin-off series “Peacemaker,” the latter getting a season two pick-up. He’s also said to developing a mystery DC Comics feature film but he has named what the superhero property is. Gunn is also potentially involved in an Amanda Waller-centric TV spin-off (he demurred when we asked him) and another DC TV series that he has described as “adjacent to ‘Peacemaker.'”
Gunn has one more Marvel film ready to go, “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.3” and a ‘Guardians’ holiday special on the horizon, but it looks like the next four years of his life, at least, will be dedicated to DC Studios which should be great news for fans looking for some consistency and quality control with a brand that has kind of been all over the map.
