A few weeks back came the industry-impacting news that James Gunn and Peter Safran were named as co-CEOs of the newly founded DC Studios.
Since their hiring, there have been nearly daily stories ranging from actors exiting their existing roles, confusion over what the pair are up to, questions regarding long-term plans for DC, and plenty of debate.
In a report from The New York Post today though, it is confirmed that Warner Bros. Discovery initially had another name on the top of its search to run DC Studios – “Joker” director Todd Phillips.
Phillips’ name was known to be in the running, but an industry source in the report says the job of DC Studios chief was one that few wanted – “the whole town turned down the job”, including Phillips, with the report saying Warner Bros. Discovery “begged him” to take it.
Phillips passed, which led to Gunn and Safran being named as the two heads of the new studio. Since then, only a few concrete facts have come out about what’s going on with the movies, such as the confirmed exits of both Henry Cavill and director Patty Jenkins, no “Black Adam” sequel, and Gunn penning a new Superman movie.
It is known the already shot DC films planned for 2023 are still on track for release, including “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom”.
In addition, both Phillips’ “Joker Folie a Deux” and Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” sequel are both proceeding and will be completely separate from the new continuity. This fits with a tweet from Gunn recently, who confirmed that DC ‘Elseworlds’ projects are already “actively happening”.
Beyond that, everyone’s waiting for Gunn and Safran’s ten-year plan for the DCU to be unveiled. One thing is for sure, according to Gunn (via Mastodon) is that he and Safran won’t face the level of studio interference that Zack Snyder did whilst constructing the DCEU.
Gunn says: “The position is different than it was with Zack [Snyder], etc. Peter [Safran] & I are the heads of DC Studios. The only studio interference would be from us!”.
Gunn also responded to a fan who asked if animated series like “Justice League Unlimited” served as inspiration for the new DCU, to which Gunn replied “Definitely.” The answer ironically comes as HBO Max is said to be pulling the JLU show from its service at the end of January.
