DC Studios saw a major leadership shakeup this week. AFP via Getty Images The dynamic duo of James Gunn and Peter Safran are out as co-chairs of DC Studios, and a mysterious ex-Marvel exec is getting the gig! And he has a wildly fascinating origin story.
On Oct. 5, Skydance CEO David Ellison said Gunn and Safran would remain in their positions as DC Studios co-chairmen when announcing the newly-merged Paramount and Warner Bros. leadership team. But waiting in the wings was another exec, Marvel’s former SVP of production and development, Jeremy Latcham.
Sources say Latcham has been under an NDA for the past three weeks while negotiating his contract with Skydance to take the DC reins.
“It was a little bit strange to have it be so publicly stated that [Gunn and Safran] were safe, and during that time, the [Latcham] process had already been kicked off,” says a source familiar with the courtship. “They were saying one thing, and then they were actively doing another thing.”
While news coverage dubbed Gunn and Safran’s ouster as shocker, Page Six Hollywood wasn’t so surprised.
After all, we reported that Safran’s name was in the mix as a potential replacement for Netflix film topper Dan Lin, and noted that Safran’s contract was up in early summer 2027. (Typically, studios ain’t floating names of execs who are certain to stay in their current jobs.)
After Skydance dropped the Latcham news on Monday, the trades reported a perfunctory biographical sketch — homing in on his time at crosstown rival Marvel from 2004 till 2017. (They missed the part that he started in the mailroom at Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor.)
Meanwhile, we learned so much more about the new DC leader by heading over to GodTube — yes, there is something called GodTube! — and the Christian Broadcast Network for a more robust portrait of the man who will replace Gunn and Safran.
In recent interviews like “Hollywood Producer Behind Massive Marvel Hits Loves Jesus,”and a sit-down with the Bible Bros., Latcham talked about his faith, fatherhood and family — all key themes in his movie “The Breadwinner,” which Sony released in May.
But here’s where it goes somewhat off-script for Hollywood. Everyone Page Six Hollywood talked to — from top agents to former colleagues at Marvel to producers in the comic book space — loves this guy. (So much for the trope that Hollywood disdains all things Jesus-y!)
“You’d be hard pressed to find a person of greater integrity than this guy,” says one top agent. “Jeremy is a friend to artists, and he is an ideas person who is calm, a fair dealer and just couldn’t be a better human being.”
Another more jaded agent echoes that sentiment and notes that Latcham is a great choice. “He’s a very good dude.”
And one executive who worked with Latcham during the Marvel days says he boasts, “a brilliant commercial sensibility and is very very well liked.”
Either way, the DC ship once again needs righting…
The Warner Bros.-housed studio released three films during Gunn and Safran’s time at the helm. Box-office performances ranged from promising (“Clayface”) to OK (“Superman”) to disastrous (“Supergirl”). Sources say “Supergirl” ultimately lost $135 million. Gunn is currently in postproduction on the 2027 “Superman” sequel, “Man of Tomorrow.” One source says he “could not be removed” per DGA rules.
For his part, Gunn took to social media with his laments about being a creative force and a studio boss. “I dislike the at-times corporate nature of the job (thanks to Peter for taking the brunt of that),” he wrote. “And the thing my ADHD hyperfocus has had the most difficulty with has been dividing my time between projects I’m incredibly passionate about and the ones I’m not so much and all the things I have to do as a studio head.”
