David Zaslav still has faith in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s vision for DC Films despite the disastrous box office of “Supergirl” this summer. The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO was asked directly about the future of DC on Thursday’s earnings call, and he responded by talking up Gunn’s “Superman” sequel and “The Batman: Part II” director Matt Reeves.
“On the DC side, James is focused on ‘Man of Tomorrow.’ I saw some pictures yesterday that looked amazing. Actually, yesterday was James’ birthday, and he’s out working. He’s working 16, 18 hours a day. It looks fantastic. We’re super excited about it. Matt Reeves, I spoke to over the weekend, and he’s working very hard on Batman.”
Zaslav declined to address “Supergirl” directly and noticeably did not tout James and Peter’s 10-year plan for DC, as he has done on several earnings calls before, but he expressed optimism in the next DC projects on the docket.
“We have ‘Clayface’ coming up soon, which looks terrific. We got ‘Lanterns’ launching in the next few weeks on HBO, which Casey [Bloys] and Sarah [Aubrey] are super excited about. So DC feels very good, and we have a robust pipeline, and Peter and James are hard at work.”
“Supergirl” marked the second film in Gunn and Safran’s overarching DC reboot after last year’s successful “Superman,” which Gunn directed. But “Supergirl,” which was directed by Craig Gillespie, suffered poor reviews and an abysmal box office, grossing just $126 million worldwide against a budget north of $170 million.
Next on the DC docket is “Lanterns,” an HBO drama series spin on Green Lantern starring Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre that launches later this month. But on the film front, the next movie is “Clayface,” a lower-budgeted body horror spin on a less well known comics character that hits theaters in October. That movie is directed by James Watkins and was not originally part of Gunn and Safran’s plan, but was greenlit quickly after horror maestro Mike Flanagan reached out with a fresh take and completed script for the character.
After that is Gunn’s “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow,” which is now in production and hits theaters in July 2027, followed by Matt Reeves’ long-awaited “The Batman: Part II” which sits outside the continuity of Gunn and Safran’s new DC universe. “The Batman 2” was originally supposed to be released next fall, but was recently bumped to February 2028.
All of this to say, the pressure is on after the “Supergirl” misfire, especially with Warner Bros. Discovery potentially coming under new leadership should Paramount’s acquisition close.
