Gunn and Safran staying at DC Studios after Paramount-Warner
James Gunn and Peter Safran will stay leading DC Studios after Paramount closes its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery under the new Skydance banner, according to Deadline. The outlet reports the two co-CEOs recently met with new Skydance co-CEO David Ellison about their future, and the meeting “went well.”
Puck also reported that Gunn and Safran “will be invited to stay on at DC, at least initially” as the newly combined company sorts out its leadership structure, according to IGN. The decision ends months of speculation about whether the pair would survive the $110 billion deal.
The DC Studios leadership details
Both were first appointed to lead DC Studios in October 2022 as part of a strategy from then-WBD CEO David Zaslav to mirror Disney’s production-label model used by Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and Pixar, Deadline reported. Gunn’s arrangement was notable at the time because he took on studio executive duties while continuing to direct, something Deadline says had rarely happened in Hollywood before him.
Under the new corporate structure, all film units from both Paramount and Warner Bros. will report into Paramount Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, per Deadline. The future of Warner Bros. motion picture chairs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy remains unresolved, with that pair still awaiting a conversation with Ellison, Deadline reported. Paramount and DC did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment.
IGN reported that Gunn and Safran will continue overseeing DC Studios at least through 2027, when their current contracts are set to expire.
What it means for DC’s film and TV slate
The leadership continuity matters immediately because DC Studios has multiple projects already in motion. Gunn is currently filming Superman’s sequel, Man of Tomorrow, scheduled for July 9, 2027, according to Deadline. The studio’s lower-budget Batman villain spinoff Clayface opens Oct. 23, and Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II is in production for a Feb. 18, 2028, release, according to Deadline.
Gunn’s 2025 Superman became Warner Bros.’ second-highest-grossing movie of last year, pulling in more than $618 million globally, Deadline reported. Supergirl fared worse this past summer, finishing with a $126.4 million global gross. On the television side, the Green Lantern series Lanterns is just days from its Season 1 finale after drawing praise for stars Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre, IGN reported.
Gunn celebrated the merger news on Instagram, sharing a trailer that spliced together Paramount and Warner Bros. logos alongside footage from Superman and The Batman. “What once was the peak, is now just the beginning,” he wrote, echoing the trailer’s line, according to IGN.
Context
DC’s arrangement under Gunn and Safran was built to replicate the hub-and-spoke model Disney uses for Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm. For Paramount, absorbing DC adds a major franchise to a library already stocked with Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mission: Impossible, Deadline reported. Before Marvel moved to Disney in a $4 billion deal in 2009, Paramount had distributed early MCU titles including Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.
What’s next
Clayface arrives in theaters Oct. 23, followed by Man of Tomorrow on July 9, 2027, and The Batman Part II on Feb. 18, 2028. Gunn and Safran’s current DC Studios contracts run through 2027, and whether they stay beyond that point under Skydance’s new ownership has not been determined, according to IGN.