James Gunn DC Slate

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

I don't know why Gunn thought people needed to watch a Jimmy Olsen TV spinoff to begin with.

I can kiiind of guess where his head was at there. Darkseid first appeared in Jimmy Olsen's book, after all. I just wouldn't have any faith he'd do anything compelling there without adding in the "Gunn flavor." Probably with drugs and orgies again if left to his own devices.

[Powder]

I haven't liked anything Gunn did outside of the first GOTG, personally, so I'm not broken up about it.

[ZariusTwo]

They're now saying Gunn was working on a third Superman script but was told to make it a Justice League movie instead with that being what introduces Batman.

DC Comics itself seems to have been protected from Skydance's current slew of lay offs because of the success of the comics and the Absolute line. Jim Lee is said to be relieved and happy that someone has replaced Gunn as he felt he was being frozen out of publicity for the comics side.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

They're now saying Gunn was working on a third Superman script

But as he kept reminding us, Man of Tomorrow isn't even a 2nd Superman script. It's just a mini version of Justice League already, or like Avengers Age of Ultron level. Not 1 protagonist but many, a shifting focus all over the place. Which doesn't sound too dissimilar from what WB forced Snyder to do with BvS instead of letting him do his planned Man of Steel 2 movie.

It's also sounding like Skydance wanted this done by 12/1 so they can lock Gunn out of the editing room on the final cut of Man of Tomorrow. Possibly chopping out all his little cameos and such. So we may end up with a Whedon cut situation, sans a Whedon present.

[ZariusTwo]

Reportedly aside from three projects in the pipeline (Man of Tomorrow, The Batman II, and an unknown HBO series) all the other Gunn projects that were speculated on or had verbal confirmation are being dropped.

Gunn is locked out of the final say of the Man of Tomorrow edit, which the studio isn't happy with.

I think they ought to edit to remove any and all post or mid-credit sequel hooks, and to treat the film like a concluding half of a dulology.

And going forward, cost efficient movies that are more standalone from the off, no attempt at connective tissue. DC need to set itself apart from Marvel and focus on the Elseworld mantra. DC being anthology might be much more easily consumable than Marvel and serialization.

[Autbot_Benz]

At least we got some former MCU Christian dude running things who wants to make movies his grandma would wanna see

[Barkworm]

I wish we could go back to the days where not everything was a planned "trilogy" (where the only thing that's "planned" is that there will be three parts that have to make big money, not anything writing-related) or has to be part of a "universe" that no one cares about. How many of these movie franchises were huge hits apart from the first Marvel movie phases?

[sdp]

Doing individual films not as connected has basically been the strategy that DC has tried to do since Justice League failed, the rest of the DCEU was mostly disconnected. The DCU started with "we won't be as connected". Whatever DC tries it's going to fail, they literally haven't learned any lessons from the DCEU, they're doing the exact same thing, change the plan once something doesn't go as expected instead of sticking with one thing.

Originally Posted by Barkworm

How many of these movie franchises were huge hits apart from the first Marvel movie phases?

I think the Monsterverse has been the only successful example besides Marvel.
DCEU failed despite having like 20 movies in its continuity lmao

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by sdp

DCEU failed despite having like 20 movies in its continuity lmao

But the DCEU did have some HUGE hits, when it had hits. In fact, I believe only two or three lost any money (Birds of Prey, Shazam 2 and maybe Black Adam, right?), and then things like WW84 which came out in COVID.

[CyberCubed]

This is technically the 5th DC movie universe, if you count the beginning Superman 1978.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

This is technically the 5th DC movie universe, if you count the beginning Superman 1978.

The Snyderverse was the first attempt to make a shared one, so no, I wouldn't.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

This is technically the 5th DC movie universe, if you count the beginning Superman 1978.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

The Snyderverse was the first attempt to make a shared one, so no, I wouldn't.

Hold up, now... the Salkinds definitely had ambitions to widen their branding with the 1984 Supergirl movie. The late 1980s Superboy TV series was a reboot and a concession that television was a safer investment then cinema, I suppose.

[Andrew NDB]

Just look at some of the "Greatest Hits" of the DCEU:

Man of Steel: 225 million budget, 667 million made worldwide

BvS: 263 million budget, 874 million made worldwide

Suicide Squad: 175 million budget, 749 million made worldwide

Wonder Woman: 150 million budget, 822 million made worldwide

Aquaman: 160 million budget, 1.1 billion made worldwide

Blue Beetle definitely lost money. The Flash lost at least some money. Shazam 2 lost money. WW84 lost money. The Suicide Squad lost money.

But now look at James Gunn's DCU by James Gunn:

Superman: 225 million budget, 618 million made worldwide

Supergirl: 170 million budget, 126 million made worlwide

Clayface: 40 million budget, 109 million worldwide

====

Basically after VOD, whatever tiny amount Superman might have earned was lost by Supergirl's immense failure. And then Clayface is just breaking even.

Not good!

[ZariusTwo]

Variety with the autopsy:

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/j...ey-1236944392/

Gunn’s “Superman,” starring David Corenswet — the duo’s first big swing as bosses — was touted as a hit with $618 million against a $225 million budget. Those ticket sales were promising enough, given the general decline in popularity of comic book movies. But they didn’t necessarily signal the kind of lasting enthusiasm that spawns an interconnected universe. Momentum all but evaporated with July’s money-loser “Supergirl,” which flopped with $126 million globally against a $170 million budget. And while October’s “Clayface” performed modestly with $109 million against a $44 million budget, sources suggest the body-horror thriller won’t break even until the studio factors in downstream revenues

Television efforts, too, were uneven. DC’s main small-screen success was “The Penguin,” a “Batman” spinoff led by Colin Farrell, was greenlit before Gunn and Safran took over. But the rest of the slate has generated less fanfare. Gunn’s “Peacemaker” series, anchored by John Cena, debuted in 2022 before he stepped into the studio job. Although the initial season was popular, the second season – which launched three years later – failed to match the buzz of the first. “Lanterns,” their first live-action TV show, had strong viewership and averaged 19 million viewers globally per episode going into the finale. Yet an insider at the company suggests the crime drama isn’t quite capturing the zeitgeist, pointing out the show has yet to be renewed for a second season.

And on the successor...looks like he won't be a character and make the brand all about himself

Internally, there’s hope that Latcham — an executive who helped shape the MCU — will get back to basics with DC.

“Jeremy is the kind of guy who would go to Comic-Con to get an autograph from someone,” says another source, “not someone who wants to be there signing autographs.”

[Fenryr]

Originally Posted by Barkworm

I wish we could go back to the days where not everything was a planned "trilogy" (where the only thing that's "planned" is that there will be three parts that have to make big money, not anything writing-related) or has to be part of a "universe" that no one cares about. How many of these movie franchises were huge hits apart from the first Marvel movie phases?

Planning for more that might not come isn't the problem. It's not having a direction when more is expected.

The MCU had a pretty slap dash start. Iron Man was a big hit, but Hulk and Thor weren't huge. Iron Man 2 was a step down. Captain America did surprisingly well considering. But they knew where they were headed and told you at the end of the first movie. We're gonna do The Avengers. Fingers crossed.

The DCU under Gunn has put out one decent Superman movie, a bad Supergirl movie, a middling Clayface movie, a Creature Commandos cartoon, a mediocre Lanterns show, and may or may not include The Suicide Squad, two seasons of Peacemaker, Blue Beetle, and who knows what else. The upcoming slate is a Superman sequel that's looking more and more overstuffed by the day, a disconnected Batman sequel that's taken so long to produce that a different director is stepping in to finish it, and a show co-starring Superman's poon hound friend and a talking gorilla. All leading up to...? Where is any of this headed? Nowhere.

A single trilogy of good movies would be a welcome change at this point.

[ZariusTwo]

Word now is Corenswet will bow out with Man of Tomorrow and won't have his contract extended. The studio are not expecting MOT to be a hit when it comes out and are just looking for a 'comfortable million'

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

Word now is Corenswet will bow out with Man of Tomorrow and won't have his contract extended. The studio are not expecting MOT to be a hit when it comes out and are just looking for a 'comfortable million'

Guess that's one way to avoid the threat of typecasting and the "Superman curse"!

Also, I think we are just about at the 7-year countdown until Superman enters the Public Domain. DC really wants to start from scratch AGAIN before anybody can make a (bad) Superman movie set in the 1930s?

[ZariusTwo]

Lanterns showrunners are on socials trying to spin that the show isn't cancelled