James Gunn Says He Has a 10-year plan for DC Studios

James Gunn and Peter Safran Say They Have a 10-year Plan for DC Studios

The idea will be to unite movies, TV shows, games and more under one big umbrella more successfully than before.

(L to R) Director James Gunn, Michael Rooker, and Sean Gunn on the set of 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.'

After a lengthy search to find the creative and business brains the company needed to run the oft-troubled DC movies, TV and games section, Warner Bros. Discovery raised eyebrows when it appointed director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran to run what will now be known as DC Studios.

Now, speaking with WBD CEO David Zaslav in a virtual town hall, the new co-chiefs (who started the job on November 1st) started to outline what they’re working on.

“This was such a unique opportunity to tell one great overarching story”, said Safran, who is known for producing ‘Shazam!’ and ‘Aquaman’ alongside the ‘Conjuring’ films. “One beautiful big story across film, television gaming, live-action, and animation.”

“The opportunity to make DC as great as it can be and as it should be — that is the reason why I’m doing this job because I know that Peter and I can do that,” said Gunn. “We spent the past couple days with a group of some of the best thinkers in the industry, the best writers in the industry starting to map out that eight- to 10-year plan of what it’s going to look like in theater, in TV, in animation, across the board for these characters.”

The pair replaced Walter Hamada, who had run DC Films for four years. The impression had been of a company in chaos – between changes in studio management, movies with little to no connection – or drama when someone such as Zack Snyder did offer some sort of vision to tie together several heroes. Not to mention mixed box office results.

Director James Gunn and Producer Peter Safran to Oversee DC Movies and TV.

Gunn’s recruitment remains something of a surprise, since he has really only been known for making movies, though he has also been involved with helping to guide the Marvel Cinematic Universe while working with Kevin Feige on the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies and beyond. He never indicated he might want to hold a similar position, though he certainly brings creative knowledge to the table, while Safran handles the business side of things (and is also a movie fan).

And the idea of a big plan for the studio’s DC output going forward certainly has echoes of what Marvel has done for Disney, though with the benefit of building slowly. Previous DC attempts have looked to replicate it at such speed, nothing quite worked out.

Gunn also offered praise for Zaslav at the meeting: “I know that you are doing all this because you love these characters, too, and you love the possibility, and the hope that they represent and that has been clear to us from the beginning. We would have never considered this if that wasn’t the case, so, thank you.”

It’s an attitude that some other filmmakers may not share, since Zaslav’s brief tenure in charge so far has seen a raft of cost-cutting measures, with movies and TV shows cancelled or scrapped, including ‘Batgirl’.