James Gunn and Peter Safran Exit DC Studios as Marvel Veteran Jeremy Latcham Takes Over

James Gunn and Peter Safran are stepping down as co-chief executives of DC Studios, four years after they were hired to reboot the superhero brand, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety reported on Monday. Former Marvel Studios executive Jeremy Latcham will replace them as president and chief creative officer.

The change takes effect December 1, according to Skydance, which completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. on October 6. Latcham will report to Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, co-chairs of Skydance Motion Picture Group, and will oversee DC’s film, television and animation work.

Gunn confirmed the move in a November 9 statement on Threads, calling the job a “dream come true” but “trying, to say the least.” He wrote that he disliked “the at-times corporate nature of the job” and found it hard to divide his time between projects he was passionate about and the rest of the work of running a studio. “I will miss the people around me, and I will miss being the co-caretaker of these great characters, but I’m also incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking,” he wrote.

A four-year run that relaunched DC

Gunn and Safran took over DC Studios in 2022 after a run of box office failures, including 2017’s “Justice League.” They relaunched DC’s movies and television as a shared world called the DC Universe in 2024, starting with the animated series “Creature Commandos.” The first film, the Gunn-directed “Superman” starring David Corenswet, opened in 2025 and grossed more than $600 million worldwide.

The next film was a setback. “Supergirl,” led by Milly Alcock, flopped at the box office in June and drew mixed reviews. The third feature, “Clayface,” a dark, R-rated body-horror film set in the Batman universe, has grossed more than $100 million worldwide since its October 23 release, against a reported $44 million budget.

On television, the studio released four shows for HBO during their tenure: “The Penguin,” “Creature Commandos,” “Lanterns” and “Peacemaker” Season 2. All four were well received, according to USA Today.

What stays, and what comes next

Gunn and Safran are not leaving DC entirely. Gunn is in post-production on the “Superman” sequel, “Man of Tomorrow,” set for release in July, and said he is writing another DC project. Both will stay on as producers on Matt Reeves’ “The Batman: Part II,” planned for 2028. The studio also has “The People v. Gorilla Grodd,” a “Superman” spinoff series starring Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, already filmed.

Latcham was one of Marvel Studios’ earliest executives. He was an associate producer and co-producer on “Iron Man” (2008) and “Iron Man 2,” and executive producer on “The Avengers,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Skydance chairman David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz said in a statement that Gunn and Safran “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.”

The exit came as a surprise. Gunn and Safran had initially been expected to stay after the merger, and as recently as November 1 Gunn said Ellison had told him he wanted to continue with what they were doing. In October, the pair were formally included in the new company’s leadership structure.

Reporting based on coverage by USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.