At the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever world premiere, Deadline was able to get Kevin Feige’s word on James Gunn being DC Studios’ new co-CEO. Just yesterday, DC Films that became DC Studios announced Gunn and Peter Safran its new c0-CEOs starting November 1, 2022. As this news is still fresh, it’s very likely that Feige will be on the receiving end of question about it. Questions come because, as many people know, Gunn also has a number of projects with Marvel Studios under his belt. In fact, two are still coming up.
One of the entertainment media outfits to ask the question during the latest Marvel movie’s premiere is The Hollywood Reporter. THR asked Feige about his reaction and the Marvel Studio President was supportive of the development in the director’s career in the industry.
Coming into the event, cast and crew as well as many industry authorities get the chance to see the latest detail and information. And Kevin Feige’s reaction to the DC Studios development is up at people’s top entertainment curiosity. Everyone knows of James Gunn’s connection to Marvel Studios. Through his lens, the world got to know of a group of fun adventurers facing interstellar challenges. The same group that now has an upcoming Christmas special at Disney Plus. This group called Guardians of the Galaxy. Also, the same heroic group that will have Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. The movie that Gunn as its writer-director stated to be the last movie for that particular group of Guardians.
Kevin Feige On James Gunn Becoming DC Studios Co-CEO
Image: Marvel Studios
Gunn’s first full length feature with Marvel Studios is Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. The movie introduced Chris Pratt as Peter Quill, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, and Dave Bautista as Drax. Also, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper lending their voice to Groot and Rocket Racoon, respectively. Its sequel in 2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 added Pom Klementieff’s Mantis to the bunch. To say the least, the franchise performed outstandingly in the box office. Both movies total a budget of $370M that generated $1.64B in the Worldwide Box Office. On Domestic numbers alone the movies already got the budget back in its entire run.
Moreover, both films had positive reviews and audience scores. The first movie had 92% in both critics and audience score. The second movie had slightly lower but still belonging to the upper tier of score at 85% critics and 87% audience score. Both sets of numbers come from Rotten Tomatoes.
Everything was going so well but a major bump on their journey happened after GOTG Vol 2. In 2018, Disney fired Gunn from his position as director-writer for the third instalment of Guardians. This was due to a number of tweets that the family-centric conglomerate found offensive. The company deemed the tweets indefensible and inconsistent with their values. Some months later, also after Gunn’s public apology and handling of the situation, Disney reinstated his position as Guardians 3’s helm and pen. However, Gunn could not immediately get to pick up where he left off with Guardians due to his new commitments with DC.
Kevin Feige On James Gunn Becoming DC Studios Co-CEO
Image: Disney
It was in between these two major decisions from Disney that Gunn got into work with DC Films for his eventual The Suicide Squad in 2021. From which, the successful HBO series Peacemaker earlier this year spun off from. Around this period he found himself working for both studios. Up until now, his involvement with Marvel Studios is very much active with the upcoming projects until May 2023. For DC Studios, apart from sharing the leadership with Safran, he is also to continue the story of Peacemaker and a new one focusing on Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller.
Kevin Feige’s answer sums up what Gunn has to do in the next several months:
I speak to James almost every day. We have a wonderful thing called the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special coming out. We have a wonderful thing called Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 coming out in May. How he’ll have any time to work on DC until May I don’t know, but once he does have the time I’ll be very excited. I’ll be first in line.
It’s evident that the two has a highly respectful relationship. In fact, Gunn was able to welcome Feige on his The Suicide Squad set. Moreover, it was during the time they reveal Starro. The director already had it in his mind that he can trust the Marvel President and producer.
