James Gunn out at DC, Robbie Fox pitches Battinson merge

Robbie was let down within minutes of the news. His first argument wasn't about who should replace them. It was that Gunn never got a fair shot.

Robbie Fox

@RobbieBarstool

James Gunn and Peter Safran out as DC Studios 🙃

Here's how we got here. Gunn and Safran took over DC about 4 years ago to reboot the whole thing, and the big swing paid off at first: Superman made $618 million worldwide. The movies after it didn't hold up. Supergirl did $126.4 million globally, and Clayface had made $109 million through its first 3 weeks. TV was the bright spot, with Peacemaker, Creature Commandos and Lanterns all landing. Robbie admits the Superman -> Supergirl -> Clayface rollout was bizarre. His point is that Man of Tomorrow is set up and could be a home run, and the people who built it won't be in charge when it comes out.

They aren't gone completely. Per the announcement, Gunn and Safran are going back to creative work full time. Their focus is the Superman sequel, which Gunn wrote and directed, plus another DC project he's writing. Latcham worked with Gunn on the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy at Marvel, and he gets the film, TV and animation slate. Both of them gave him their blessing in the statement. So it's a demotion back to filmmaker, not a firing out the door.

Not everyone in the building was sad about it. Kenjac pulled up an old receipt from a 2023 Hot Take Wednesday segment and took a victory lap.

Kenjac

@JackKennedy

WOW 🎯🎯🎯

ChrisInDC

@harDCor_barra

@JackKennedy @jmatrix0407 I gotchu

That's a 3-year-old take getting reposted with 3 bullseyes, so take the gloating with a grain of salt. Gunn did make the most successful DC movie in years. Still, a studio doesn't swap out its chiefs when the plan is working, and Kenjac has every right to bring the clip up at every meeting from now on.

By Tuesday Robbie had moved from grieving to fixing. His pitch is to keep David Corenswet and the whole Superman cast, bring in Robert Pattinson's Batman once The Batman Part II is out, merge the 2 universes, and build from there. He used to be against the idea. Now he's calling it the Hail Mary that might actually work.

Robbie Fox

@RobbieBarstool

My plan to save DC: Keep David Corenswet and the Superman cast in place, introduce Battinson and merge the universes after The Batman Part II, build from there. I was against it for a while but I think it might be the Hail Mary that actually works.

Honestly, it isn't crazy. Corenswet is the one piece of the Gunn era almost everyone liked, and Pattinson's Batman is the most trusted thing DC has going. Combining them gets you a Superman and a Batman people already believe in, with no reboot of the reboot. The catch is whether Latcham wants to keep anything with Gunn's name on it, or start over with a clean slate.

Robbie and the Project Big Screen crew went deeper on it in this week's episode. They react to the Skydance news, break down where it went wrong and argue about what comes next.

Barstool Movies

@BarstoolMovies_

We react to the news out of Skydance that James Gunn & Peter Safran are out as co-CEOs and evaluate where it went wrong and where to go from here on this week’s episode of Project Big Screen t.co/nEuK0bpPk2

What to watch: Latcham starts December 1, and his first big decision is what to do with the Superman sequel Gunn already made. If Man of Tomorrow hits, the new regime gets a clear signal on what to keep. If it misses, Robbie's Battinson Hail Mary goes from a fun walk-and-talk take to a real option.