James Gunn Exits DC Studios as Clayface Tops $100 Million

Clayface crossed $100 million worldwide over the weekend, and on Monday the two men who have run DC Studios for the past four years stepped down. James Gunn and Peter Safran are out, and Skydance has named Marvel veteran Jeremy Latcham to take the job.

Latcham becomes president and chief creative officer of DC Studios on December 1, with the film, television and animation slate under him. He reports to Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, the co-chairs of Skydance Motion Picture Group.

Gunn Says He Is “Incredibly Relieved”

Gunn put out a statement of his own the same day. He wrote that he is glad he took the job, called the run “trying, to say the least,” and said he is “incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking,” adding that “the characters we set up will live on.”

Neither man is walking away from the DC projects already underway. Man of Tomorrow, which Gunn wrote and directed, is in post-production and opens July 9, 2027. The two produce The Batman Part II, which is in production, and they executive produce the HBO Max series The People v. Gorilla Grodd, which has finished filming.

Clayface and Swamp Thing Are the Horror Titles on the Slate

Clayface is in theaters now. James Watkins directed it from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, working from Flanagan’s story, and Warner Bros. opened it wide on October 23 to an A- CinemaScore. It reached $100 million worldwide in its third weekend against a reported $44 million budget.

Swamp Thing is further back. James Mangold has been attached to write and direct since early 2023, and Safran said last month that the script is being written, with no release date set. Mangold has described what he wants as “a very simple, clean, Gothic horror movie about this man/monster.”