UPDATE 9/1: Insiders answer the “extension” talk: nothing new was signed — the current deal IS the extension, and it still expires in 2027, after Man of Tomorrow.
UPDATE 8/31: Why the woke DCU doesn’t fit what’s coming: per our source, “nostalgia is the new woke,” with every property from 1970-2000 getting a second look — including Snyder’s The Dark Knight Returns, from Frank Miller’s 1986 book.
Everything we know about James Gunn's Superman follow-up is in our Man of Tomorrow explainer.
UPDATE 8/28: A first read on the Clayface question below: its opening tracking is in, showing double the day-one commitment of comparable movies.
UPDATE 8/27: The court has set the merger calendar, and it lines up with the contracts. Trial runs March 2-19, 2027, with a ruling possibly as late as June — the same spring 2027 window Gunn and Safran’s DC Studios deals run out.
Paramount insiders say James Gunn and Peter Safran are staying at DC Studios after the Warner Bros. merger, per TheWrap.
Our sources have been saying for a year that they’re on the way out.
Both can be true.
Gunn and Safran’s contracts run out in 2027. Nobody has to be fired. The contracts can simply expire, Warner Bros. can decline to renew them, and everybody moves on.
Warner Bros. just showed exactly how that works.
The DC Questions Already Have Answers
TheWrap’s Wednesday WrapPRO analysis looks at David Ellison’s pledge to release 30 films a year under a merged Paramount-Warner Bros. and whether the combined studio can actually deliver it.
Deep in the piece, Paramount insiders say the plan is to keep Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy alongside other top creative executives, “like” New Line’s Richard Brener and DC Studios’ Gunn and Safran, who have said Ellison is “pretty open to what we’re doing.”
A few paragraphs later, TheWrap asks another question: if Clayface and Man of Tomorrow both underperform, would Paramount have to retool DC, and would that cost the studio a major source of tentpole output?
Paramount declined to comment to TheWrap.
Per our insiders, both questions already have answers.
“Kept” Means Until 2027
Six days ago, our insiders laid out how the Warner Bros. exodus actually works: “Contract not renewed. Lots and lots of WB staff are in that position, including Gunn and Safran. They all know it’s over.”
The rest of the script: “Most will be allowed to quit in a dignified manner. If they don’t, the contract runs out and they’re out. So technically not fired.”
Per Bloomberg, Gunn and Safran’s DC Studios deals run only into spring 2027.
The merger trial starts March 2, 2027, with a verdict possibly coming as late as June.
Same window.
Until those contracts expire, Paramount can absolutely “plan to keep” Gunn and Safran. That’s what a non-renewal looks like before the expiration date arrives, and before the deal closes, Paramount can’t run Warner Bros. anyway.
The merger agreement also leaves the outgoing regime free to sign short-term orders like The People v. Gorilla Grodd, while the expensive, long-term calls wait on Ellison.
De Luca and Abdy staying also matches what we’ve reported. Our sources described open season on Gunn’s slate and De Luca and Abdy’s plan to run DC project by project.
Gunn and Safran being “kept” alongside them tells you where everybody is on the calendar. It doesn’t tell you what happens when those contracts come due.
Warner Just Showed How The Exit Works
On Tuesday, one day before TheWrap’s piece ran, Sam Register exited Warner Bros. Animation after 18 years.
Channing Dungey’s memo said the two “mutually agreed” not to renew his expiring contract.
Register ran the television-side animation units under Dungey, not the film executives TheWrap listed. But the mechanism is exactly what our source described five days earlier: don’t fire them. Let the contract end.
And Register isn’t the first one this month.
Katie Martin Kelley left WB comms for Netflix with her contract up and no lawsuit due to fallout surrounding Gunn and Safran’s Supergirl flop. Pia Barlow also left for Amazon with her contract running through October 2027, and WBD sued within days.
Under this regime, the only clean exits are the expired ones.
“There are people already in the process of leaving, so expect more people to exit,” a second source told us.
That’s the context missing from the phrase “alongside other top creative execs.”
The DC Retool Isn’t Waiting On The Box Office
TheWrap frames the DC question as conditional: if Clayface in October and Man of Tomorrow next summer both underperform, does Paramount retool?
Per our insiders, the retool is already the plan. It isn’t contingent on either movie.
Last week, two sources independently told us Ellison is going all in on Batman.
“Ellison is GOING ALL IN on Batman to bring people back to DC,” one said. “They’re really high on Reeves,” another added.
Expect a big push for Matt Reeves’ projects as the merger closes, with Reeves and Robert Pattinson getting production deals that “rival Marvel stars,” a trilogy, and an Arkham Asylum series trilogy on top.
The larger structure our sources described is very different from one shared DC universe: “SnyderVerse and other DC IPs will be totally separate. No shared universe. Every director gets their own.”
Zack Snyder’s The Dark Knight Returns is “ready to go” with Jay Oliva, built for IMAX, Snyder wants Ben Affleck back, and Snyder got a hero’s welcome on the Warner lot from De Luca and Abdy. There are plans to bring back the SnyderVerse, backed by the Saudis.
Why Paramount wants it: “They can’t take another reboot.”
That also answers TheWrap’s concern about losing DC tentpole output.
A retool doesn’t mean less product. It means more.
The Batman slate our source ran down includes Absolute Batman animated, The Batman Part II on February 18, 2028, an Arkham movie, The Dark Knight Returns, and a new Arkham Asylum game sequel.
“Paramount is spending big $$$ to build the universe for years to come,” we are told.
And the numbers TheWrap cites are exactly why Paramount wouldn’t need to wait for another round of results.
Superman did $618.7 million worldwide, with the CEO of Netflix confirming it underperformed.
Supergirl exited theaters at $126.3 million as the lowest-grossing DC movie ever, and WBD’s own Q2 report showed studio profits crashing 89% with a Batman game the only thing growing.
The incoming regime isn’t waiting on Clayface to react to numbers it already has. And days before the release of Supergirl, WB officially removed any mention of Clayface getting IMAX screenings.
The Long-Term DC Deals Aren’t Moving
Gunn and Safran came away from their Ellison meeting saying he’s “pretty open to what we’re doing.”
Look at what’s actually moving.
Gunn says The Brave and the Bold is “in no way on hold,” and that nothing at DC Studios is.
He’s right. That’s the point.
The merger agreement lets Warner Bros. sign only short-term projects on its own — deals that don’t extend more than two years beyond a closing date that doesn’t exist yet — while Ellison already holds veto power over WB and DC’s long-term future.
“All these deals and productions WBD is announcing are either dirt cheap (aka more expensive to cancel contracts/deals) or ‘subject to final approval,'” said a source.
A Batman movie doesn’t fit that profile. It means a director deal, a multi-picture star contract, sequel options, and years of commitments.
So the DCU Batman still has no cast, an announced director who told two fans outside a theater he’s out of the loop, and a co-CEO who says he won’t “cloud the Batsphere” while Reeves shoots.
Nothing on hold.
Nothing moving either.
Gunn has also cleared a day for Crunchyroll’s Anime Future Forum on the eve of New York Comic Con, where DC Studios has no panel and Man of Tomorrow has no presence.
Then there’s Man of Tomorrow itself. It’s being loaded with cameos and fan service because it’s potentially Gunn’s final DC movie, with the farewell statement already drafted and waiting for the contract’s expiration date.
The Exit Playbook Is Already On The Record
In March at WonderCon, our insiders said Gunn could be out before Man of Tomorrow even hits theaters, with a “graceful” exit.
Last week, a second source described the same playbook for the rest of the building: staff on expiring contracts would be “allowed to quit in a dignified manner.”
This week, Warner Bros. used the language itself. Dungey’s memo on Register said the two “mutually agreed” not to renew.
Five months. Three descriptions of the same kind of exit. The latest one came from the company.
Same insiders, same track record.
These are the sources who told us Hal Jordan dies in Lanterns, confirmed on air five months later, and who told us the Saudis were spending big on theme parks ahead of the $7 billion announcement.
Our insiders told us just last night that things are frozen. Today’s Supreme Court filing then used the exact same word, calling Warner Bros. “frozen.”
What they’re telling us now is that the changeover is running on paperwork while everything officially waits for the close, with trial in March and the $7 million-a-day ticking fee starting October 1.
“I heard there are already some people in talks of moving from Disney and Amazon to WB,” one source says.
On the DC plan: “IT’S ON!” The moment someone can sign.
Officially, Paramount plans to keep everyone.
Unofficially, the contracts have expiration dates.
This week, one of them came due.
