Why James Gunn’s Superman Movie Is Crucial For The Future Of Warner Bros.

Look, up in the sky! It’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, and it’s not even Superman. What it is, incredibly enough, might be Warner Bros.’ last chance at salvation amid a 2025 slate of risky blockbusters. As the fresh reboot that DC Studios needed to (mostly) wipe everything clean and start over from scratch again, James Gunn’s impending “Superman” movie was always going to represent a major gambit to get things off on the right foot. But nobody could’ve anticipated the perfect storm of factors leading to the dire straits that the entire studio now finds itself in, particularly after a series of box office missteps in recent months. Now, rather fittingly, the future of all of Warner Bros. might very well rest on the shoulders of the Man of Steel. What else is new?

According to the latest edition of the Puck newsletter, written by industry veteran Kim Masters, there is trouble afoot over at the offices of WB. And the theatrical performance of its remaining movies this year — especially “Superman” — may go a long way towards deciding the future of the studio. After the initially disappointing returns from “Mickey 17” this past weekend, the heat is getting turned up on studio chairpersons Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. The Puck report mainly focuses on rumors concerning their tenure at Warner Bros. and whether they might end up becoming the next high-profile casualties of infamously trigger-happy CEO David Zaslav. Although much of this has to do with the exorbitant budgets handed out to various movies under De Luca and Abdy’s leadership, it mainly comes down to the shareholder perception of WB’s library of IP and the potential of the brand to succeed where others have failed.

And that’s where “Superman” comes in. DC has rarely found itself at a bigger crossroads in live-action history, which means the pressure is squarely on Gunn and co-studio head Peter Safran to get this blockbuster to fly high in every sense of the word. Where “Superman” goes, it increasingly looks like, WB as a whole will follow.

Warner Bros. has always bet heavily on the financial prospects of its crown jewel DC franchise, but it’s safe to say the stakes have never felt higher than they are now. The internal concerns currently unfolding within the walls of the studio aren’t directly a result of the critical flops and box office disappointments of various DC movies in recent years (looking at you, “Blue Beetle,” “Black Adam,” and especially the misfiring sequel “Joker: Folie à Deux”), but those certainly haven’t helped. No, this is very much an issue in WB’s approach. On paper, investing hundreds of millions of dollars to original projects such as Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi epic “Mickey 17,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s star-studded Frankenstein production “The Bride,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s upcoming $100+ million film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the Ryan Coogler-directed “Sinners,” and more is actually great news for the state of the industry. It’s less than ideal, however, when the hefty budgets on each of those titles requires a return on investment that already feels, ah, questionable, to say the least. (This is a dilemma that /Film’s Ryan Scott has been banging the drum about for quite some time now.)

Hence, all eyes now turn towards this summer’s “Superman,” a film that could make or break Warner Bros. — in more ways than one. After citing several insiders with a rather pessimistic outlook of WB’s 2025 slate of movies, the Puck article finally gets to its juiciest tidbit. The basic gist of it? “Superman” needs to perform well among general audiences. If it doesn’t, we could be looking at a very different version of Warner Bros. in a shockingly short amount of time. To quote directly from The Puck:

Meanwhile, Gunn and Safran are busy with a little project of their own: ‘Superman’ — the July release that has now taken on almost incalculable importance to Warner Bros. Discovery. If Warners can’t finally make the DC franchise work, there is genuine fear that the studio will go the way of [20th Century] Fox, which was swallowed by Disney in 2019.

That couldn’t possibly sound more ominous, though it speaks to the importance of everything “Superman” represents for DC and WB in general. This is the last chance to make “Superman” a box office juggernaut that the character has never really been. If it works, Gunn and Safran might be in for even more change.

Now we get to the really fascinating part of this whole saga. Despite a proven track record of success at various studios over the decades, Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy sure seem like they’re on the hot seat in 2025. The pair already went ahead and fired the studio’s marketing head Josh Goldstine earlier this year, as reported by Variety, in a stunning (and questionable) development that indicated that they’re well aware of the scrutiny they’ll face throughout the months to come. With scuttlebutt swirling regarding De Luca and Abdy’s job status, a Warner Bros. spokesperson responded to The Puck, saying, “There is no truth to that rumor.” However, that rather tepid statement has done nothing to curtail the perception that they might not be long for Warner Bros. if things don’t turn around quickly.

It’s always poor form to speculate over someone’s replacement when they still occupy that position, of course, but The Puck does indicate one fascinating name who could be in the running: Peter Safran. To be fair, writer Kim Masters goes out of the way to indicate that nothing is written in stone just yet. As she explained:

Zaslav has been said to be leaning toward replacing [De Luca and Abdy] with Peter Safran, the co-chair and co-C.E.O. (with James Gunn) of DC Studios. But simultaneously, there are rumors that Zaslav will initiate a search [outside the studio] for new leadership.

If the former comes to pass, one has to imagine that Gunn would be none too pleased to see one half of the all-important pairing get pulled away from managing the business side of DC. It certainly makes sense from a business perspective to see how Safran fares with DC and, accordingly, promote him to the top job overseeing all of WB. But, in an unbelievable irony, could the potential success of “Superman” also end up kneecapping the DC franchise if it costs Safran’s involvement? Much remains uncertain, so stay tuned to /Film as all of this continues to shake out.

“Superman” flies into theaters July 11, 2025.