I Don't Even Know Where To Start...

So, let's get something clear from the start: there is no evidence right now that James Gunn's job as head of DC Studios is in jeopardy. A rumor of this surfaced over the last few days so it is worth addressing where it came from, why it is likely not true right now, and why if it comes true, the source was likely lying about having an "insider" who leaked the information to him.

So I'm not going to name the news source because doing so would legitimize them to an extent, but long-time readers or listeners of Thirty Minute Reviews will know who they are because I've had bump-ins with them in the past. Regardless, they ran a story from an "anonymous source" that alleged that if Warner Bros. is bought by Paramount, James Gunn will be out as the head of DC Studios, with Michael De Luca put in charge.

Now, putting aside that he cites this all as anonymous sources, the first problem is that it cites Zazlov trying to help Ellison by putting in place people that Ellison would want in charge. The problem with this characterization is that Zazlov has said he is not interested in a possible buyout for the current Warner Bros./Discovery, he's way more interested in splitting the company back into two separate entities. While Ellison is definitely interested in buying Warner Bros., this would reportedly only come as a result of a hostile takeover so it's not exactly a situation where Zazlov would be trying to make things easier for Ellison.

Besides that, there is also the issue where the article cites the failures of Creature Commandos, Superman, and the second season of Peacemaker. For starters, Creature Commandos was the third most show on HBOMax/Max ever in its first week of viewership and was the number one show on the platform a number of times during its run. While Superman did not beat Man of Steel at the box office internationally (possibly due to the wave of anti-American sentiment from a global economy disrupting nonsensical trade war) but it did make back three times its budget. It also outperformed every single DCEU movie since Aquaman and the last four MCU films.

All of that said, I'm not shocked that this guy took a series of shows on Max where the Nazis are explicitly the bad guys and took it as a personal attack but this whole thing comes down to yet another far-right ass-blasted Snyder fanboy who just cannot get over the fact that Snyder is not going to come back and make another terrible DC movie for them to act like is high cinema.

Who knows, maybe the hostile takeover of WB happens before the split, and maybe Gunn does get fired but there are two big reasons I don't think it will happen. Number one, the results on the level that the heads care about have been positive enough that they're not going to fire Gunn just for not being pro-Trump because it would definitely chill the willingness of actors, directors, and writers from working with Warner Bros. and Paramount in the future. If being fired for left-leaning political beliefs is a bridge too far for Paramount, they're going to have a hard time building a long-lasting media company.

Number two, and probably the bigger issue, is that Warner Brothers spent a lot of time and money setting up the new DCU. They had to cast, get talent together, start shooting shows and movies, all of which would have likely cost over a billion dollars to do. Is the allegation that, while WB is also in the middle of paying over a billion dollars to reboot Harry Potter, with no guarantee of a return on that investment, they are also going to scrap all that and start fresh?

And look, let's be real about this, if Paramount does buy WB, it's not for DC Studios or anything done on the theatrical side of WB; it's because they want CNN and the ability to strong-arm the cable companies to bend to their will with their ability to monopolize sports contracts. If Paramount does go through with this hostile takeover, it is just as likely that we never get another DC movie again as Snyder retakes the reins under a new conservative-coded vision of the DC Universe.

In a way, it's sad. It's sad that this person is so woefully deluded that he thinks this is all about the comic book characters he likes. This is about media power and the consolidation of said power under a few wealthy people so dissent is easier to hide. The fact that this blogger is going to such great lengths to try and carry water for people who would not piss on them if they were on fire by making up completely fabricated stories is honestly pretty sad. The situation right now is not great, we do not need to make it worse by making things up.