Summary
- James Gunn and Peter Safran are making advancements in the new DCU, but they don’t have complete creative freedom over the characters.
- Warner Bros. is focusing on rebooting the DC universe under Gunn and Safran’s vision, but they are closely supervising the creative decisions.
- The success of Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League showed that creative freedom can lead to positive results, unlike previous DC films that were heavily influenced by studio interference.
James Gunn and Peter Safran have managed to make some relevant advances in the creation of a new DCU, after having taken over as co-CEOs of DC Studios. But it seems that they do not have absolute freedom to work on projects focused on the comic book company’s characters.
After Marvel Studios began to dominate the world of superheroes at the end of the first decade of the 2000s and the beginning of the next one, Warner Bros. Pictures wanted to respond to the reign of the Disney franchise with its own connected universe focusing on the characters from DC. For this they called Zack Snyder, who had already demonstrated his skills in comic adaptations with Watchmen.
Following a similar line to the story created by Alan Moore and completely moving away from what the MCU proposed, Snyder presented a dark and realistic vision of the characters, with biblical references, and moral reflections on the role of superheroes in the world. Something that Marvel Studios would later do with Captain America: Civil War. And although Snyder’s films were a success, including Wonder Woman, which was directed by Patty Jenkins, the failure of Justice League and the enormous criticism received by Suicide Squad, marked the beginning of a long and difficult period for DC in cinema.
When Warner merged with Discovery and David Zaslav took the leadership of the company, he set his mind into putting focus on the great franchises, DC being one of them but with a reboot of the universe under the vision of Gunn and Safran. But it seems that co-CEOs don’t have as much creative freedom as fans imagined.
WBD and Max Will Closely Supervise the DCU
Although Gunn had previously revealed that DC Studios is an independent entity from Warner Bros. despite being part of the company, a recent report published by Variety on the franchise’s current problems confirms that WB and Max are “creatively involved with the DC slate,” which means that the director of Guardians of the Galaxy and the producer will not be able to make decisions that do not also go through the management of Warner Bros. Discovery.
While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it has been a problem for the DCU in the past. For example, the studio’s choice to change David Ayer’s Suicide Squad to make it funnier greatly harmed the film. The same thing happened with Justice League, something that became more evident with the success achieved with the Snyder’s Cut that was released on Max, and was praised by both fans and critics, proving that the director’s vision was actually really good.
At Marvel Studios, DC’s direct competition, management is very different, since Kevin Feige has practically absolute freedom when choosing which stories he wants to tell and how he wants to do it, something that has worked very well for them. However, Gunn and Safran’s DCU will be a reboot of the franchise, so they will surely learn as they go what works best for the company and its characters.
