A lot is riding on James Gunn’s Superman.
According to a recent Puck report (via ComicBookMovie), the future of Warner Bros. might look a lot different come August and it depends entirely on how Superman performs at the box office. There is reportedly immense pressure on the 2025 superhero blockbuster to be a hit, with Puck noting that the movie has an “almost incalculable importance” to Warner Bros. Discovery. There is “genuine fear” that Warner Bros. could get swallowed up by another studio, similar to how 20th Century Fox was acquired by Disney in 2019.
But how does Superman factor into this? Well, one studio veteran told Puck:
“An essential element of the stock price is believing that the I.P. of DC is meaningful. David [Zaslav] bet big that they can show the world that the DC I.P. can have real value. Superman is the first movie. That will set the tone. They have a tremendous amount riding on it.”
Until now, most people assumed that if Superman flopped, it would merely signal the end of Gunn’s time at DC Studios, with WB no doubt stepping in and doing their amazing course-correcting. However, now it sounds like if Superman flops, there might not be a studio left to continue the DC Universe. Warner Bros. has been struggling financially for a few years now (okay, since pretty much WBD was created), so it sounds like they need a few hits in the row to keep the lights on.
The report also mentioned that WBD CEO David Zaslav is considering replacing Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy as CEOs of Warner Bros. Pictures. One top contender for the job is DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran, meaning Gunn would be left as the sole head of that studio. Now, Gunn has stated in the past that he would have never taken the job if he had to run DC by himself. It’s unclear whether Gunn would receive a new co-CEO if Safran did get promoted to CEO of WB.
All will likely be revealed in the weeks after Superman‘s release in theaters on July 11.
Do you think Warner Bros. is in trouble if Superman underperforms?
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