DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran were feeling pretty secure under the new Skydance regime.
After surviving a merger that claimed the jobs of celebrated Warner Bros. heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, the duo were basking in the modest success of Clayface, a horror movie released Oct. 21 that passed $100 million globally on a relatively modest $44 million budget. There was even talk of doing more spooky, slimmed-down DC movies.
Gunn had also wrapped production on Man of Tomorrow, his sequel to Superman that is heading for a July 2027 release, and sources say he was in the midst of writing a third installment, as part of plan to make a trilogy and release a Superman movie every two years, maybe even morphing the franchise into a Justice League teamup.
Then came Friday, Nov. 6, when Skydance co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz arrived at Gunn and Safran’s offices on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. There, according to sources, the DC heads were told that despite previous assurances they would be part of the new Skydance mega-studio, Ellison and Kreiz had a change of plans. And now, after four years as two of the most visible faces in comic book films and TV, they were out.
And their replacement was surprising. It wasn’t a splashy C-suiter or an exec recently ousted amid Hollywood consolidation.
It was Jeremy Latcham, the mild-mannered producer who was once a key member of Marvel Studios’ exec team before moving to Texas to be an independent producer.
An occasional foray into big-budget moviemaking such as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves notwithstanding, Latcham was focusing on inspirational movies such as the Wright Brothers feature Flyer, for the faith-focused studio Wonder Project, where he also helped make House of David, a TV show about the Biblical figure. The producer is known to be vocal about his Christian faith and wanting to create projects that uplift people.
“I had this nagging feeling that I needed to do more movies that had deeper meaning to me,” Latcham said of Wonder Project during an appearance on the Bible Bros podcast while promoting the Nate Bargatze comedy The Breadwinner. “Let’s be the HBO for the faith and family audience. Let’s try to make movies and television shows that restore faith in things worth believing in.”
In a twist, Latcham was instrumental in Gunn’s rise, advocating for the niche director’s hiring on Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy, which turned Gunn into an A-list filmmaker who commands 8-figure paydays for his directing work.
One insider indicated the exec shuffle had been in the works since early fall and had been precipitated by a reachout to Latcham from Josh Greenstein, who co-chairs the Skydance Motion Picture Group with Dana Goldberg. The two first worked together nearly 20 years ago when Latcham was a rising Marvel exec and Greenstein was in the marketing department at Paramount, the studio that released Iron Man and Iron Man 2. They teamed again when Greenstein was at Sony and made Spider-Man: Homecoming with Marvel.
Sources point to several points of tension between DC’s Gunn and Safran and Skydance’s Greenstein and Goldberg. Before Skydance’s acquisition, Gunn and Safran reported directly to Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav; their contracts stipulated they would maintain that kind of direct reporting structure in the event of a change of leadership, in this case Ellison. That set up a chafing with Greenstein and Goldberg, who are trying to consolidate all production of motion pictures under them. Gunn and Safran, meanwhile, were accustomed to having strong control over every aspect of the rollout of DC products.
“They had the final word on movies, TV shows, and animation,” says one insider. They were not about to get layered in the reporting structure, multiple sources add.
Another tension point: sources say the DC heads were not forthcoming or were slow in sharing plans, slate details and footage with the Skydance movie heads. In the end, Greenstein and Goldberg prevailed and in the new hiring, Latcham will be reporting to them.
Another insider is more blunt in the assessment. Ellison never wanted DC to report directly to him in the first place and did not have time for studio politics, such as any posturing between division heads.
And then there was the matter of DC’s financials. The movies released were not great for business, while Supergirl was just a disaster, in the eyes of the new regime. Even Superman, which grossed $618 million worldwide and was profitable, did not net out, or have the kind of pop culture impact, in the way that kind of movie should have, the Skydance regime’s thinking went.
Latcham’s rise to the top of DC Studios began 22 years ago, during a very different era for superhero movies. In 2004, Latcham was working as an assistant at Endeavor when Endeavor exec David Maisel left to lead Marvel Studios as president and hired him as his assistant at the upstart studio. Latcham is said have been surprised and underwhelmed when he showed up to Marvel’s modest Santa Monica Blvd. offices to discover it wasn’t yet a real a studio, but rather an outfit for giving script notes to Hollywood studios making licensed movies based on Marvel characters.
But a year and a half later, Maisel orchestarted for Marvel to finance its own movies, starting with Iron Man. As Latcham shot through the ranks at Marvel, moving on to become Kevin Feige’s assistant and then his right-hand man, he was known for musing aloud about if his grandparents would like their movies. In other words, he asked, “Would this movie resonate with everyday people beyond Hollywood?” while walking the thin line in servicing what superfans would be looking out.
Sources affectionately describe Latcham as a down the middle shooter, whose goal is to make hits for the masses and get people into movie theaters. If Gunn was the guy to deliver f-bombs and lesser known characters, Latcham was the guy to deliver what’s more in line with Ellison’s more meat and potatoes tastes, say multiple sources.
Known as a family man who doesn’t care about the trappings of Hollywood, Latcham is expected to split time between Los Angeles and his home in Texas, where he lives with his wife and daughter, as well as his parents, who live on their property. He is not the kind of producer who has extensive relationships with agents, which may be detriment or benefit, depending on who you talk to. He is expected to be very hands on producer who likes to spend time on sets.
Gunn and Safran will still have direct links to the studio, just less control. Safran is a prolific producer with a long relationship with Warner Bros. through The Conjuring movies, a franchise that is still very active.
As for Gunn, those close to him note he’s somewhat relieved to go fully back to the creative side of the business. In an Instagram post on Monday, he acknowledged executive life and the studio politics that surrounded it wasn’t for him. Said Gunn: “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.”
Latcham is currently untangling himself from projects he was producing, including the big budget movie Naruto for Lionsgate and Sony.
By the time the news went public, Latcham and Gunn had not spoken about the DC transition, but were planning to speak by phone on Monday afternoon, according to sources.
It is unclear if Gunn will get the chance to finish any of his vision for Superman, let alone the DC slate he and Safron announced with great fanfare in 2022. The slate was just barely revving up in the eyes of some.
For DC fans, Monday’s tumult was another reminder how DC movies cannot catch a break in the 21st century. At this stage, the only movies on the horizon are Man of Tomorrow and The Batman Part II, which recently saw Steven Soderbergh step behind the camera to help Matt Reeves.
How many times can fans continue to invest in movies and actors before having the rug pulled once again is a real concern, said one source with knowledge of DC’s inner workings.