UPDATE 5: Gunn is now firing back at the Clayface backlash, comparing the movie to Back to the Future and Casablanca.
UPDATE 4: All eyes on Clayface just got harder: Lanterns fans are calling for a boycott over Hal Jordan’s death.
UPDATE 3: Clayface‘s first box office projection is in, and it comes in below Supergirl‘s opening.
UPDATE 2: Bloomberg puts an expiration date on the contracts: April 2027, six months after the merger closes.
UPDATE: THR now reports David Ellison told Gunn and Safran to “keep doing what you’re doing,” with no guarantees attached.
This past week brought a wave of pro-DCU and pro-James Gunn stories. We’re told that’s no coincidence.
The timing lines up with the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger closing October 6 and Gunn wanting to keep his job.
But per a Paramount insider, the DCU is far from safe.
All eyes are now on Clayface.
A Week Of Pro-Gunn Stories
Look at what hit in the last week.
Batman is rumored to appear in Dynamic Duo, with Chris Pine rumored as the voice.
More names keep getting attached to Man of Tomorrow, with Viola Davis rumored back as Amanda Waller and Matthew Lillard fueling Flash talk. Gunn shot the Flash theory down with a one-word “No.”
Sneider’s newsletter claims David Corenswet keeps the cape for the next decade no matter what happens to DC Studios.
Our insiders say Corenswet could keep the cape if Man of Tomorrow makes money.
And Belloni reported Gunn and Peter Safran keep running DC, “at least initially,” after the merger closes.
It matches what an insider told us in September: the trades are “pretty much running rumors from competing execs in Warners-Par trying to save their reputations (see James Gunn).”
‘They’re Looking At Every Dollar In Every Budget’
Now the new info. A Paramount insider tells us the budget reviews have already started.
“They’re looking at every dollar in every budget. And they’re looking at performance this year. Meeting invites already sent for next two weeks to ‘explain yourself’ and justify every dollar budgeted Q4 to Q2.”
Q4 to Q2 means this October through next June. Everything on the slate in that window gets justified, dollar by dollar.
It lines up with what insiders say about new Co-CEO Ynon Kreiz: his job is to save $6-7 billion.
The insider continued:
“Clayface better deliver. Heck, even Dune 3 better deliver. Recouping your prod+marketing budget is a failure. Skydance expects PROFIT$$$, not ‘made $10 mill if you include merch.'”
Breaking even on what a movie costs to make and market no longer counts as a win. Skydance, the new name of the combined company, wants profit.
And that bar applies to Dune 3, which opens December 18.
Clayface Opens October 23
Clayface is the DCU’s next movie, in theaters October 23.
It arrives with questions. Last month we reported fans moved Street Fighter ahead of Clayface while Warner Bros. kept the campaign quiet.
WB pulled Clayface‘s IMAX billing back in June. Street Fighter, “Filmed for IMAX,” opens one week earlier.
Writer Mike Flanagan has already distanced himself from the movie, saying it “very much is not mine.”
Hanging over all of it is Supergirl. The last DCU movie bombed, and Warner Bros. staffers said DC “chose the wrong comic book character.”
Gunn’s contract runs through 2027. And insiders already told us what follows the merger: a stretch of “kumbaya we all love each other” at the new company “before the ax falls.”
The merger closes October 6. The explain-yourself meetings are already on the calendar. Clayface opens October 23.
