Following the extraordinary failure of “Supergirl” at the box office and star Milly Alcock’s interview with Variety seemingly pre-blaming Christian men for the film’s eventual downfall, DC Studios leadership is out.
DC is the home of comic characters Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and many others.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran have stepped down as co-CEOs of DC Studios just four years after taking over the iconic brand.
The film studio, which is now under the ownership of Skydance after David Ellison’s purchase of Warner Bros, will be led by former Marvel executive Jeremy Latcham.
James Gunn will remain creatively involved as several projects are ongoing. Gunn’s “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow” is in post-production and scheduled to hit theaters in July of next year, and at least one DC TV show is in development.
This shakeup follows multiple creative and commercial misfires, including the underwhelming global box office of 2025’s “Superman” and the catastrophic bomb that was last summer’s “Supergirl,” which received a dismal 52 percent critic score on review site Rotten Tomatoes and only grossed $126 million on a budget of about $175 million.
Moreover, feminist “Supergirl” star Milly Alcock made inflammatory comments to Variety a month before her movie came out that some believe hurt the film financially.
Building on remarks she’d made months earlier about the apparent difficulty of being a woman in a major franchise, the actress claimed that the negativity toward her often comes from anonymous accounts or ones whose bios read: “dad of four, Christian.”
“And it’s from a lot of people whose profiles have no photo, who are burner accounts. Or someone’s name and then ‘Dad of four, Christian,’ which is hilarious to me,” Alcock said. “But I mean, whose opinion do you really care about? If you’re pissing the right kind of people off, you’re doing OK.”
Many on social media blasted Alcock's remarks.
James Gunn and Peter Safran released a statement in response to the news of their ouster, saying in part: “Four years ago, we set out to unite DC under one creative vision. In that time, we helped restore ‘Superman’ to the heart of DC, while opening new doors and telling new stories in film and television…”
The duo added that they look forward to what new DC head Latcham will accomplish.
It's currently unclear if Gunn and Safran were forced out or if it was a voluntary departure. Gunn added in a personal statement that he disliked the "at-times corporate nature of the job" and that he was "incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking."
David Ellison also offered a statement with his Skydance co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, saying in part: “James and Peter launched a new era for DC Studios and led it through a period of real transformation, resetting the foundation and building a slate we’re incredibly proud of.”
What DC Studios will look like after “Man of Tomorrow” hits theaters remains to be seen.