Does DC Studios truly stand on its own? Heads of Warner Bros. films Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca reveal their excitement for James Gunn’s Superman film.
Warner Bros. reputation is in the toilet right now. It’s hard to imagine a production house in history that has been a bigger “Public Enemy #1” with fans, between cancelling highly anticipated projects and slashing funding for whole genres like animation. This has left fans worried about DC Studios and how much control James Gunn and Peter Safran will truly have, especially as Superman seems to be the company’s biggest money maker on the horizon.
Luckily, it seems as though the heads of Warner Bros. films don’t have much control over DC Studios. When talking about James Gunn and Superman on the Smartless podcast, Mike De Luca explained that Gunn and Peter Safran report directly to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Despite this, they remain massive cheerleaders for the things they’re seeing come from that wing of the company.
“We actually have to stipulate, DC reports directly to David Zaslav. We don’t oversee it, but we were big supporters of Peter and James taking the job. Our advice when we were asked was it doesn’t need another career executive, it needs a storyteller in charge.”
“We were really impressed with Pixar. They brought Pete Docter, who’s a filmmaker in from the field, to be chief content officer and preside over their slate of movies.”
Superman Excited Warner Bros. Heads
That praise doesn’t just come from Warner Bros. bosses trying to support their own. Mike De Luca explains that they’ve actually seen an early cut of Superman as it gets ready for its theatrical run. James Gunn seems to have understood the assignment when tackling DC Studios’ first big screen project, even if the executives didn’t want to give too much away as marketing for the film starts to pick up in the coming weeks.
“I used to chase James as a producer when he did ‘Slither’ and started with his low-budget movies. He’s really unique and I think DC is in great hands with the two of them. We’ve seen an early cut of Superman.”
“And I don’t want to bury the lead, there’s a lot of marketing about to roll out ahead of its release, but he really understood the assignment. His heart’s in the right place, his aim is true, and we’re really excited about their new version of DC.”
Superman has a lot to prove in the coming months. The literal future of DC Studios is resting on the shoulders of James Gunn and his team. Not only does the project have to shake the less than stellar cinematic history of its brand, but it needs to contend with two franchise juggernauts in The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Jurassic World Rebirth. As the clock ticks down, which of these three truly has the upper hand will be seen.
Superman is currently scheduled to hit theaters on July 11, 2025. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the future of the DC Universe and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
