UPDATE 4: The reporting question is settled: Gunn and Safran report directly to David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz on Skydance’s new CEO Leadership Team.
UPDATE 3: Gunn hit Threads sounding excited about the DCU’s future, saying he is already writing his next movie.
UPDATE 2: The first box office projection for Clayface is in, and it lands below Supergirl‘s opening.
UPDATE: Bloomberg reports the contracts expire in April 2027, before Man of Tomorrow even opens.
James Gunn and Peter Safran sat down with David Ellison in person on Thursday, and the Skydance boss told them to “keep doing what you’re doing.”
What Ellison did not give them: a new deal, a confirmed boss to report to, or any guarantees.
The Hollywood Reporter says the pair are staying put at DC Studios “at least for the foreseeable future.”
That matches what our insiders have been reporting for weeks: Gunn runs DC through Man of Tomorrow, and nothing is promised past 2027.
The meeting backs up the report that Gunn and Safran are staying on at DC “at least initially”, while Warner Bros. film bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy head out the door.
It also follows Friday morning’s Skydance name reveal.
The announcement video ends on a constellation of brand logos, with the DC bullet in the top tier next to the Paramount mountain and the Warner Bros. shield.
THR calls that logo placement “as strong a Bat-signal as you can have” about DC’s importance to the new company.
Through Clayface And Man of Tomorrow
On September 1, two insiders told us Gunn has no new extension. His current deal is the extension, and it expires in 2027, after Man of Tomorrow.
THR now reports the general consensus inside the company: Gunn and Safran at least see through the DC movies that are already finished or in post-production.
That means Clayface on October 23 and Man of Tomorrow, the Superman sequel opening July 9, 2027. It is the same timeline, with the contract running out right after the Superman sequel opens.
Ellison is invested in the latter. He visited the Atlanta set of the Superman movie over the summer.
The reason nobody pulls the plug early is 2023. The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom were made by one studio regime and released by another. The Flash bombed, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom made less than half of what the first Aquaman did.
Nobody wants that happening to a Superman sequel with $250 million or more riding on it.
And as we posted earlier today, sources added that all eyes are on Clayface, with “explain yourself” budget meetings already going out.
Paramount Has Noticed DC Comics
The DC logo in the top tier is also good news for DC Comics.
THR reports the publisher has passed Marvel in sales and market share for the first time in decades, the old sell-off rumors look dead, and DC could even end up publishing Star Trek and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics.
We break down the DC Comics side of the merger, and what insiders told us back in June, right here: DC Comics Could Publish Star Trek And TMNT Under Skydance.
De Luca And Abdy Felt Secure Too
Here is why none of this is a guarantee.
THR says it’s unknown who Gunn and Safran will answer to at Skydance. It could be Ellison directly. It could be Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, the Paramount film bosses expected to run both studios. At Warner Bros. Discovery, Gunn and Safran reported straight to David Zaslav.
And the trade spells out how fast things change. De Luca and Abdy “were led to believe they would still be here post-merger,” a studio insider tells THR.
“They met with David months ago and felt secure,” the insider continued. “Clearly a lot has changed since then.”
As we reported, that change looks to have been Larry Ellison, the billionaire father to David. This week they put it plainly: “The Ellisons are NOT loyal people, they’re business people.”
We get into the full De Luca and Abdy story right here: De Luca And Abdy ‘Felt Secure’ After Meeting David Ellison; Larry Made The Call.
So THR’s report reads the way our insiders said it would.
Gunn and Safran keep doing what they’re doing, the movies already on the calendar come out, and the contract still expires in 2027, right after Man of Tomorrow opens.
