Warner Bros. Discovery Names Two Superhero Veterans to Lead DC Studios

In the past, the head of the DC superhero franchise has reported to the chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures, but as part of the restructuring of the studio, Messrs. Gunn and Safran will oversee all of DC’s titles across multiple formats, including theatrical releases, television series and releases for Warner Discovery’s HBOMax streaming service.

“James and Peter have a broad vision for DC storytelling and how it all fits together,” Mr. Zaslav wrote in an internal memo to employees Tuesday. “We now have the full leadership team in place.”

Mr. Gunn is a veteran of superhero films, known for writing and directing Marvel’s three “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, including a sequel set to be released next year. He also served as producer of two of the “Avengers” films. For DC, he wrote and directed 2021’s “Suicide Squad” and has been involved as a writer in the “Scooby-Doo” franchise. He has also written, directed and produced for DC’s “Harley Quinn” and “Peacemaker” TV series.

In 2018, Disney fired Mr. Gunn from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films after a series of satirical social media posts that touched on delicate themes like rape, pedophilia and AIDS. He was reinstated for the third installment of the movie the following year.

The duo has known one another for more than two decades, and Mr. Safran produced “Suicide Squad” as well as the DC movies “Aquaman” and “Shazam!” and the New Line Cinema horror movie series “The Conjuring.”

Mr. Zaslav courted the pair over the past few months after they were suggested by Mike De Luca, the newly hired co-chair and co-CEO of Warner Bros. Film Group, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Zaslav also considered other candidates, the people said, including Dan Lin, the producer of multiple movies in the Lego and It franchises. Mr. Lin said recently on a podcast that running DC would be his “dream job.”

Talks with Mr. Lin were complicated by his ownership of production company Rideback, which would have made hiring him more expensive, these people said. Warner Discovery is making deep cuts to content spending and laying off production staff in an effort to pay down a steep debt load, though the company says it intends to keep overall content spending at a high level.

The last few years have been chaotic for the DC franchise, which draws characters and story lines from the century-old DC Comics brand. Some tentpole movies, including 2017’s “Justice League” and 2019’s “Shazam!” have underperformed at the box office, while others, including “Aquaman,” “Wonder Woman” and the films in the Batman franchise have been global blockbusters that together raked in billions in ticket sales. Marvel superhero movies have on average consistently outperformed DC’s at the box office over the past two decades.

In 2021, Warner Bros. provoked the wrath of fans by delaying the release of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” a new version of the original film that cost tens of millions of dollars to re-cut, before finally releasing it on HBOMax.

In August, Warner Bros. scrapped “Batgirl”—a nearly-completed superhero movie that cost about $90 million to produce—after deciding that it was wiser to take a tax write-off than to take a chance on releasing it in theaters.

Walter Hamada,

who has led the DC movie division since 2018, is stepping down from his role as Messrs. Gunn and Safran take over Nov. 1.

In an August earnings call, Mr. Zaslav praised the success of Marvel Studios and its chief, Kevin Feige, saying the company seeks to put in place a similar structure for DC, where all superhero content for films, TV and streaming are organized under one silo, rather than segregated by format.

“When you look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, these are brands that are known everywhere in the world,” Mr. Zaslav said. “DC is something that we think we could make better and we’re focused on it now.”

This past weekend, DC’s “Black Adam,” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, led the box office with $67 million in North American ticket sales. Next year, DC has four movies set for release, including sequels to “Shazam!” and “Aquaman” and a film version of “The Flash.”

DC Studios also has a sequel to 2022’s “The Batman” in development, and Mr. De Luca this year greenlighted his first DC title, a sequel to the hit 2019 Joaquin Phoenix-led thriller “Joker.”

Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com