The change of ownership of Warner Bros. Discovery has had a significant impact on the film industry, as it is one of the most influential companies in audiovisual media. None of its subsidiary franchises has been unscathed; the changes brought about by the Netflix acquisition will only become apparent over time, but, as with any power structure, a ripple effect is looming.
DC Studios is under the Warner Bros. umbrella and, therefore, has also become part of the streaming company, in the fourth year that James Gunn and Peter Safran are at the helm of DC.
In a recent interview with Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast, the director of ‘ Superman ‘ spoke expectantly about this new era: “I have no expectations because everything is still a mystery, but frankly, I think this is all very exciting. So I hope and pray for the best.”
“I’ve been through these kinds of changes so many times that I’m always careful what I wish for, because you never know until you know,” the filmmaker continued, expressing moderate doubt. “I hope everything works out, and I think it’s exciting, because all the directions have really exciting things for DC, so I’m really excited to see where it’s going to go.”
DC almost had a different fate
Before Warner Bros. finally opted for Netflix’s hefty offer, other companies were in the race to be the highest bidder: Skydance/Paramount came very, very close to beating Ted Sarandos (CEO of the streaming service), and it was a popular belief that the production company would achieve its goal.
Perhaps this would have marked a very different path for James Gunn. Before the outcome we now know, there were speculations that David Ellis, the billionaire owner of Skydance Media and now also managing Paramount Global, wanted to make a change in the creative direction of DC Studios.
This rumor was reinforced by the fact that Zach Cregger, director of ‘ Weapons ‘, as reported by Puck, bypassed the chain of command when trying to bring his DC film, ‘Henchman’, to Paramount, perhaps because he thought that the company would be the one to buy Warner ultimately.
His maneuver, at least for now, seems to have backfired: Netflix has acquired Warner, James Gunn and Peter Safran remain in their positions, and it remains to be seen whether Cregger’s new film will ever see the light of day, at least not with DC.
