James Gunn And Peter Safran’s DC Studios Exit Was Driven In Part By Cost-Cutting

It’s a bewildering state of affairs over at Warner Bros./DC. After seemingly being welcomed into the newly-formed Skydance (the name of the recently-merged Warner Bros. and Paramount), James Gunn and Peter Safran suddenly stepped down as DC Studios co-heads in a move that came as a shock to pretty much everybody outside of Skydance CEO David Ellison and his colleagues. Now, a report claims the pair’s ousting was all part of an attempt to save money, which, considering recent developments, certainly seems plausible.

According to IndieWire, Gunn and Safran’s exit was partly “about cost-cutting” as Skydance prepares to tackle its $80 billion debt and deliver the $6 billion in yearly savings over the next three years that Ellison has promised. As the outlet put it, “Skydance has also been stunned by the financial picture of Warner Bros.’ film unit,” which has struggled to deliver many hits in 2026. We already knew that Skydance had inherited massive flops from the Warner deal (including Tom Cruise’s “Digger” and “The Bride!”), but an insider has now told IndieWire that the estimated losses stand at almost $1 billion.

According to the report, this played into Gunn and Safran’s dismissal, especially since they oversaw one of the most egregious box office failures of 2026 in “Supergirl.” (The Milly Alcock-led movie made just $126.5 million at the box office on a whopping $170 million to $186 million budget.) What’s more, sources have informed Page Six that “Supergirl” ultimately lost $135 million. So, while the film’s performance was always going to impact whether or not Ellison elected to keep Gunn and Safran in their posts, IndieWire’s report has indicated that the cost-saving measures were even more integral to his decision than we previously realized.

After the “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow” debuts in 2027, David Ellison will reportedly dismantle James Gunn’s DC Universe, resetting DC’s cinematic franchise once again. It’s a less than ideal development amid the ongoing superhero fatigue that has already seen the genre fall out of favor with mass audiences. For Ellison, however, it seems the real motivating factor is the same thing as always: money.

What makes Gunn and Peter Safran’s exit particularly surprising is that Ellison initially seemed to want to keep them at Skydance. In early October 2026, The Hollywood Reporter cited insiders as claiming the DC Studios co-heads met with Ellison and were asked to stay and “keep doing what you’re doing.” According to Page Six, however, plans were already in the works to replace the pair with the newly-appointed Jeremy Latcham. One source told the outlet, “It was a little bit strange to have it be so publicly stated that (Gunn and Safran) were safe, and during that time, the (Latcham) process had already been kicked off. They were saying one thing, and then they were actively doing another thing.”

But as IndieWire points out, not only was Skydance inheriting multiple flops from Warner Bros. generally, Gunn and Safran’s deal was “unusually generous.” We already knew the pair were reporting directly to ex-Warner CEO David Ellison, who was seemingly content to leave them to it. But these two were also making a tidy profit of their own, with Safran simultaneously heading up his own The Safran Company and Gunn earning big pay days for producing “Supergirl” and “Clayface,” and writing and directing both “Superman” and “Man of Tomorrow.” According to IndieWire’s insiders, Gunn was making as much as $10 million per DC movie.

David Ellison’s post-James Gunn and Peter Safran plans make the cost-cutting explanation even more obvious. Jeremy Latcham, who becomes the president and chief creative officer of DC Studios on December 1, 2026, will now report to Skydance studio heads Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein instead of directly to Ellison. What’s more, one thing we do know about Latcham is that he has a more mainstream sensibility that Gunn’s prediction for lesser-known, more off-beat DC properties. What does that mean in Ellison’s eyes? A better chance at earning a decent profit when compared with Gunn’s plans to give Batman’s two most popular Robins their own movie and churn out Mister Miracle animated shows.

Meanwhile, DC Studios hasn’t exactly been the biggest money maker under Gunn and Safran. The Man of Steel is one of DC’s marquee characters, yet Gunn’s “Superman” made $618.7 million in 2025. That’s not bad, but for one of DC’s most popular characters, it’s a little underwhelming (as was the movie). Elsewhere, things have been similarly underwhelming. “Supergirl” was a box office disaster, and the most recent DC release, “Clayface” has done okay, making $111.7 million on a $40 million budget. Bearing in mind this is DC, one of the jewels in the Warner Bros. crown, you can imagine Ellison taking a look at these figures with the weight of his financial commitments and simply deciding to cut Gunn and Safran loose.

For now, Gunn will stick around to oversee the release of 2027’s “Man of Tomorrow.” According to a source who spoke to Page Six, however, this is only because of Directors Guild of America rules that meant he “could not be removed.” If these reports are accurate, Ellison looks to be more intent upon cutting costs than we realized.