re: Gunn no longer running DC Studios.

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Superman is an illegal alien who was created by two jewish writers whose parents were immigrants. He was created as a champion of the oppressed. He literally says to judge people based on their religion, race, or national origin is un-American. And he fully supports his son when he comes out as bi. But yeah he's super conservative.

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Interesting how people like to pick and choose what they see in Superman. He’s pro-illegal immigrants, but apparently the American way isn’t his thing now?


Sure, Jan.

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Skydance has uncovered “tens of millions” of dollars in luxury hospitality spending under the former Warner Bros. Discovery regime, including expenses for dining, travel and gifts, according to two sources:

• The former WBD regime spent in ways big and small — like stacks of receipts for sandwiches and green juices from the gourmet grocery store Erewhon

• The company expects to save “millions” by reducing spending on outside vendors, studio services and redundant marketing budgets

• One source even suggests press junkets will be revamped

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Rashida Jones being Dr. Manhattan was an odd call

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But look closer, and Gunn and Safran’s ouster is about something more than their films’ commercial performances. It’s about cost-cutting too, something that Skydance, with its $80 billion in net debt, needs to start chipping away at if it’s going to realize the $6 billion in savings it’s promised to find.

The duo’s deal, which was set to expire in 2027, was unusually generous. Safran not only got paid to run the comic book label, he was also allowed to run The Safran Company, the wildly successful production company behind “The Conjuring” franchise (former Netflix film chief Dan Lin, in contrast, divested from his company Rideback when he went over to the streamer). Then there was Gunn, who commanded fees for producing films like “Supergirl” and “Clayface,” as well as fees for those DC films that he wrote and directed, such as “Superman” and “Man of Tomorrow.” Gunn’s total haul for a DC film could be as high as $10 million for all his various duties, according to insiders.

When Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav offered the pair such a sweet deal, comic book movies looked more durable and he needed to make a splash after DC produced flops like “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” and “The Flash.” To sweeten the offer, Zaslav also allowed Gunn and Safran to be relatively autonomous, reporting directly to him, whereas Skydance wanted the DC leadership to be under Skydance Motion Picture Group chiefs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein.

Skydance has also been stunned by the financial picture of Warner Bros.’ film unit since taking over. The studio has suffered a devastating wave of flops this year, losing hundreds of millions on a slate that included bombs such as “Digger,” “The Bride!,” and last weekend’s “The Cat in the Hat.” One insider put the estimated losses at nearing $1 billion. Of course, most of those films were greenlit under Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who were let go as soon as David Ellison got the keys to the Warner lot, and have nothing to do with Gunn or Safran. But it does put pressure on Skydance to turn things around and improve the film division’s margins, fast. On an earnings call this week, Ellison acknowledged the film division faces “headwinds” and “has underperformed this year.” He went on to pledge to “apply the same playbook we did at Paramount: greenlighting more selectively.”

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