Yesterday, DC fans were surprised with the news that Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad director and screenwriter James Gunn has been named co-chairman of DC Studios, along with Peter Safran. The decision makes Gunn and Safran DC's version of Kevin Feige, meaning that they’ll oversee the next decade of superhero productions and provide some much-needed coherence to the DC Universe. However, as Variety reports, the decision is extremely recent and doesn’t alter the status of ongoing DC productions, including the upcoming sequel Joker: Folie à Deux.
Considering that Joker: Folie à Deux has already been slated for an October 24, 2024 release date and is starting principal photography soon, it makes sense not to force the story into a shared universe, especially because the previous film worked as a standalone and this didn’t harm box office draws – quite the opposite, actually, with Joker becoming the highest R-rated movie ever, with over $1 billion raked in worldwide.
Aside from that, gathering DC superheroes once again must be done with caution. Previous DC movies have unquestionably taken a hit when it came to the necessity of interconnecting them, which made tent pole titles such as Batman v. Superman: The Dawn of Justice feel convoluted with an excess of subplots setting up future franchises and a lack of focus that severely hampered the movie’s reception by fans and critics. This is probably one of the reasons Gunn and Safran have been selected to helm future DC projects in theaters.
Image via Warner Bros.
Another character whose future is uncertain is Gotham city vigilante Batman. The Dark Knight story was rebooted in the Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson blockbuster, which kicked off its own isolated universe. A sequel has already been greenlit by Warner Bros., with no release date attached at this point. Since Gunn’s position is an extremely new development, we’ll have to wait for further details regarding the future of DC projects.
On top of all that, there is the massive chaos going on with Warner Bros. Discovery, which is still mapping out its future after the merger and unpopular decisions that came under the new CEO David Zaslav’s leadership – the biggest of which being the axing of HBO Max movie Batgirl. Zaslav previously announced the creation of a 10-year plan which focused on bringing flagship DC superheroes back to the big screens, and Gunn will clearly be a cornerstone of this project. Of course, we’ll only see how all this plays out in a couple of years. Meanwhile, Black Adam has already signaled at a Superman comeback, and soon we’ll discover what else the DC universe has in store for us with Shazam! Fury of the Gods premiering on March 17.
Stick with Collider to find out about DC Studios projects and developments as soon as they are announced. You can check out a trailer for Shazam! Fury of the Gods below: