Nov. 10, 2026
The many critics of the direction of the DC Cinematic Universe under James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Superman) finally got their wish: he has been fired. The new Warner Bros. boss, David Ellison, gave him his walking papers yesterday in a shocking move (framed as Gunn stepping down) just before the Skydance third-quarter earnings call on Monday.
Also exiting with Gunn is former co-CEO Peter Safran, who kept a much lower profile compared to Gunn, who was more visible on social media than most of the stars of his movies—which many felt was part of the problem. Instead of being laser-focused on building a coherent, mainstream-friendly revamped DC universe, Gunn’s critics believe he was mostly interested in feeding his own creative whims, which often involved his industry friends. That’s all over now. The new head of DC Studios is Jeremy Latcham, one of the architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), who will start on Dec. 1.
“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. We’re grateful for their passion, contributions and commitment to this legendary brand,” said Ellison in a statement. “Jeremy has been a longtime creative partner to both, and we have complete confidence that James and Peter will ensure a smooth, collaborative transition and continue this work with care. We look forward to working with Jeremy to build the next generation of DC storytelling and to doubling down on our commitment to fans.”
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Unlike the MCU’s rogues gallery of high-performing hits, the Gunn era of DC has never cracked $1 billion on any franchise. All the box office returns were disappointing-to-mid compared to expectations. The only slight exception was Superman, which earned $618 million worldwide, but that was on a budget of $225 million. So…it was a success, but not impressive in the shadow of the MCU’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($955 million in 2022), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($859 million in 2022), Thor: Love and Thunder ($760 million in 2022), Deadpool & Wolverine ($1.3 billion in 2024), The Fantastic Four: First Steps ($521 million in 2025), and Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($2.5 billion in 2026).
For some reason, Gunn seemed obsessed with the obscure characters from DC Comics, and when it came to the tentpole characters (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman), he seemed less inspired to recruit visionary directors and actors that might stray from the Gunn orbit and his comic book movie vision.
In short, there was a distinct sense that he was treating DC Studios as though he were its Walt Disney and all the meaningful creative decisions needed to be filtered through him. That isn’t the job of a studio chief. Ellison understood that this wasn’t what DC Studios needed, and made the change to Latcham. In Latcham, Ellison gets a more focused and strategic executive who doesn’t need to be in the spotlight, won’t be sitting in front of cameras for podcasts that actors should be doing, and he won’t find himself arguing with fans on social media as Gunn did. The Gunn era was mid, uneven, and often edgy in a performative rather than transcendent way. That’s all over now. Reactions on social media indicate that fans are more than ready to move on from the Gunn era.
Even Gunn, in a statement released after his departure was announced, seemed to admit that he wasn’t a fit for the executive suite. “I dislike the at-times corporate nature of the job…I didn’t know if I wanted this job when it was offered to me, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
But What About AI at Skydance, Warner Bros., & Paramount?
Aside from the shocking (well, not really that shocking when you think about it) news about Gunn, the biggest news from the Skydance earnings call was Ellison’s comments on AI. Will Skydance leverage AI to create new films? And if so, exactly how will that happen? If Ellison is to be believed, Skydance will follow the path of using AI to make CGI and special effects cheaper rather than using AI to replace actors and artists.
“In a world of AI slop, we think there will always be a premium for truly handcrafted storytelling. The summer box office and our growing engagement on Paramount+ are a few proof points of this. We also believe in a world of artificial intelligence, the value of franchise IP has never been more important,” said Ellison on the earnings call on Monday. “We also continue to believe that artificial intelligence is a tool for artists and will never be a replacement for them. Regarding how AI will reshape our business, the answer is significantly…We’ve been developing AI tools that, again, it’s early days, but it strongly indicates that content will be easier to produce, projects across the organization will speed up, and how we work will transform.”
So, ideally, more and better special effects at lower budgets, all facilitated by AI, but directed by the hands of human artists. If that is the true spirit of Ellison’s stewardship of Skydance/Warner Bros./Paramount, then that would go a long way toward allaying the fears of many in Hollywood worried about having a job in the world of filmmaking in the next few years.
“We think these AI tools will help unlock more original storytelling by being able to make the budgets more digestible to be able to take that amount of risk.”
-David Ellison, Skydance
“When you zoom out and look at production, AI really has the potential to be the biggest creative unlock in modern history. The last time we saw anything close to this was really the advent of CGI and digital composites in the early 1990s. That technology gave birth to amazing stories like Jurassic Park and Terminator 2, and it’s hard to imagine that AI is not going to have a more significant impact than that,” said Ellison.
“I personally believe that’s going to be an incredible unlock on creativity. If you go back in time, speaking of Terminator, which everyone knows is one of my favorites, to 1983, when James Cameron made that movie, it was made for $4 million. If you wanted to make that picture today, shot for shot, it’s $60 million-$70 million. And there’s not a lot of first-time filmmakers with an original idea without, at the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger, [who] became one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but he wasn’t then. There’s not a lot of bets that get taken like that across our industry, and we think these [AI] tools will help unlock more original storytelling by being able to make the budgets more digestible to be able to take that amount of risk.”
But his vision for AI isn’t limited to moving beyond expensive CGI in films and television. Ellison is also keeping an eye on other aspects of AI’s optimization potential throughout the entertainment business.
“On an enterprise basis, we see these tools yielding greater productivity across the organization. Every discipline across the business will use these tools, and productivity will improve as a result,” said Ellison. “From a product perspective, things like personalization across sign-ups, registration and retention experiences, plus search, discovery, and recommendations will all improve.”
There was some early concern that Ellison, whose family is rooted in the history of technology since the 1977 founding of Oracle, might leverage AI in a profits-first, creativity-second fashion, discarding vital aspects of the craft and history of filmmaking. However, his latest comments are pointing in the direction of using AI as a tool rather than a people eraser. Despite the incoming mass layoffs at Skydance due to the merger, those who are left may have cause to view Ellison’s AI perspective with some optimism, for now. ✍︎
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Cover image: David Ellison as an actor in Flyboys in 2006 via MGM
