James Gunn and Peter Safran are working on familiar-sounding 8-to-10-year storyline for DC Studios

The new executives were recently brought on by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav

By Katie Chow  |  November 11, 2022 | 9:46pm
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James Gunn and Peter Safran are working on familiar-sounding 8-to-10-year storyline for DC Studios
James Gunn and Peter Safran Photo: Frazer Harrison, Michael Tullberg

Following a long string of unpopular decisions, new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav made DC fans cautiously optimistic after announcing that filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran would be overseeing future comic book adaptations at DC Studios. A recent town hall meeting between the executives has confirmed that new plans are already being put in place less than two weeks after the duo started the job, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“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,” Gunn says. “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 8 to 10 year plan of what it’s going to look like in theater, in TV, in animation, across the board for these characters.”

Gunn’s career skyrocketed with the success of his Guardians Of The Galaxy movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise that DC is now clearly trying to emulate. Previous attempts at creating an interconnected series of projects have met mixed reception, and 2017's Justice League raked in less than half of The Avengers’ $1.5 billion box office haul.

“This was such a unique opportunity to tell one great overarching story,” Safran says. “One beautiful big story across film, television gaming, live-action, and animation.”

However, there’s no word on any potential change to the fate of Batgirl, whose cancelation has become a focal point of Zaslav’s reign. The HBO Max feature would have introduced Leslie Grace as the titular hero, as well as bringing back J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and Michael Keaton’s Batman.

“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,” Gunn tells Zaslav. “We would have never considered this if that wasn’t the case, so, thank you.”

 
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