Skydance Replaces James Gunn and Peter Safran at DC Studios With Ex-Marvel Executive Jeremy Latcham

Skydance has removed James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-chairmen and co-chief executives of DC Studios, ending a four-year tenure that began with a successful Superman relaunch and was expected to survive the company's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Their replacement is Jeremy Latcham, a former Marvel Studios executive who helped build the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Skydance Motion Picture Group announced the change on Nov. 9. Latcham will start Dec. 1 as president and chief creative officer of DC Studios, overseeing film, television, and animation.

A leadership change that came fast

Paramount completed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6 and renamed the combined company Skydance. At first, reports suggested Gunn and Safran would keep their jobs, even as Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were expected to step aside for Paramount's Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein.

That assurance lasted barely a month. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz visited Gunn and Safran's office on Nov. 6 to deliver the news in person. Gunn and Safran will remain producers on DC projects and are finishing post-production on Man of Tomorrow, the Superman sequel scheduled for July 2027. Latcham will report to Goldberg and Greenstein, now co-chairs of Skydance Motion Picture Group.

"I've had the privilege to help bring some of the most celebrated superhero stories to life on the big screen, and I'm excited and honored for the opportunity to now lead DC Studios into its next era," Latcham said in a statement.

A mixed record

Gunn and Safran took over DC Studios on Nov. 1, 2022, with a mandate to build a single connected universe out of DC's scattered film and television properties. Gunn arrived with strong credentials, having written and directed all three Guardians of the Galaxy films for Marvel before making his DC debut with The Suicide Squad in 2021. Safran produced that film and other DC adaptations during the 2010s.

Their first release, Gunn's Superman, opened to $217 million globally in July 2025 and finished with $618.7 million worldwide. It introduced David Corenswet as the Man of Steel and laid groundwork for a wider universe of familiar characters.

The follow-up faltered. Supergirl, which reportedly cost $170 million, became one of DC Studios' worst opening-weekend flops this summer, grossing $126 million worldwide amid poor reviews.

The third release redeemed the run. Clayface, an R-rated body-horror film made for a reported $44 million, opened at No. 1 and had grossed $109 million worldwide as of Nov. 8. On television, the pair delivered a second season of Peacemaker, the animated Creature Commandos, and HBO's Lanterns, which was a hit when it debuted in August.

From Marvel to DC

Latcham was part of the founding team at Marvel Studios under Kevin Feige. He worked on Iron Man, The Avengers, and Tom Holland's Spider-Man films, and he collaborated with Gunn on Guardians of the Galaxy.

He left Marvel in 2017 to found Latcham Pictures, whose credits include Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Bad Times at the El Royale. DC represents his return to the superhero business.

The challenge he faces has defeated Warner Bros. before. The studio's first attempt at a Marvel-style connected universe, the DC Extended Universe, began with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel in 2013 and ended with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in 2023. In between came a decade of uneven results, from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman to The Flash and Black Adam.

What Latcham inherits

The immediate slate is largely locked in. Man of Tomorrow remains on the release calendar, and Matt Reeves' The Batman: Part II is still in production, with Steven Soderbergh recently brought in to shoot remaining scenes. The series The People v. Gorilla Grodd is also in development.

Beyond that, little is certain. It remains unclear whether Corenswet's Superman continues after Man of Tomorrow, whether Lanterns gets a second season, or whether Latcham will reset the universe again and hand fans another round of whiplash.

Latcham helped build Hollywood's most successful franchise once. Nearly two decades after Iron Man, he will find out whether that playbook can be repeated, or whether the era of reliably expanding superhero universes has passed.