{"id":171852,"date":"2025-12-07T09:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T09:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/171852\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T09:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T09:59:14","slug":"gunn-safran-go-into-pr-mode-to-save-dcu-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/171852\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunn & Safran Go Into PR Mode To Save DCU Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the news that Netflix won the bidding war to acquire WBD, Bloomberg published what reads like a glowing feature on James Gunn and Peter Safran, but the timing raises more eyebrows than confidence. <\/p>\n

The report highlights their \u201cgrand vision\u201d for DC and runs through projects on their slate, but the real story sits between the lines: their contracts now run through spring 2027 \u2014 exactly when the Netflix\u2013WBD sale is expected to close.<\/p>\n

\"supermanDavid Zaslav, James Gunn, Peter Safran at SUPERMAN premiere<\/p>\n

Six-Month Extension Lines Up With Netflix Deal Timeline<\/p>\n

Bloomberg confirms Gunn and Safran\u2019s contracts end in 2027, suggesting a quiet six-month extension occurred. <\/p>\n

That extension lines up almost perfectly with the projected window for Netflix to complete its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which also comes with the release of Man of Tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Notably, as our insiders went over<\/a>, Gunn and Safran did not receive long-term renewals like WB film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy \u2014 which is a major tell.<\/p>\n

\"Frank<\/p>\n

Superman a box office failure<\/p>\n

The report also confirms what we first told you and others, that Gunn\u2019s Superman wasn\u2019t a theatrical success. <\/p>\n

Bloomberg spins it that the film was a big success but only says Superman made money when \u201cticket sales, online rentals and merch deals\u201d are factored in.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What the box office failure shows is that fans really didn\u2019t show up, especially in the international markets.<\/p>\n

\"james<\/p>\n

Selling Themselves Hard<\/p>\n

The Bloomberg article paints a flattering portrait of the duo, complete with quotes from David Zaslav praising their \u201ccreative vision.\u201d But the piece reads more like a PR push driven by uncertainty than any real sign of stability.<\/p>\n

If Gunn and Safran were locked in for the long haul, there wouldn\u2019t be a need for a feature story arguing why they matter. <\/p>\n

The piece reads like two executives campaigning to keep their jobs under a new owner.<\/p>\n

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos even said on a conference call that Penguin is great television and they would want more like it, with no mention of Gunn\u2019s DCU (Gunn\u2019s Peacemaker lost nearly 40% of its viewers and has been canceled).<\/p>\n

\"james<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s Plans Remain a Wildcard<\/p>\n

An analyst calls DC the \u201csingle greatest opportunity\u201d in the WBD deal, but the streamer hasn\u2019t stated whether it wants a unified DCU, a downsized operation, or even a shift to one-off films and outside licensing (exactly as our insiders questioned<\/a>). <\/p>\n

That ambiguity puts every DC leadership role under review \u2014 including Gunn and Safran\u2019s.<\/p>\n

For now, the duo continues promoting their roadmap, but the reality is simple: If they\u2019re working this hard to justify their value, their futures under Netflix are anything but guaranteed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the news that Netflix won the bidding war to acquire WBD, Bloomberg published what reads like a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,3991,409,1094,111,139,69,3997,3204],"class_list":["post-171852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-james-gunn","tag-movies","tag-netflix","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-superman","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}