The Length of James Gunn’s Contract With DC Has Been Revealed (What Does It Mean for Man of Tomorrow?)

The DC Universe is in the headlines despite not releasing any projects or dropping any updates. The bombshell that Netflix is working to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery and all of its assets has the public worried that the streaming company will clean house and start with a clean slate. There’s also a contingent that believes that Netflix’s latest acquisition is opening the door for the return of the Snyderverse. Zack Snyder’s supporters don’t have any evidence to support that claim outside of the filmmaker’s comments about returning to DC if Netflix acquired the rights to the characters, but they’re still running with it.

As interesting as the return of the Snyderverse would be, reading the tea leaves reveals that James Gunn’s DCU is chugging along like nothing is about to change. Supergirl is ramping up its marketing ahead of its July 2026 release, and despite getting delayed, Lanterns is shaping up to be another winner for DC Studios. However, while 2026 is seemingly set in stone, 2027 is a different story, as there will be some big decisions to make come spring of that year.

According to Bloomberg, which got Gunn on the record discussing his desire to put his films in theaters, the co-CEO of DC Studios, as well as his partner, Peter Safran, have contracts that run through spring 2027. Initially, they were signed through 2026, so it appears that congratulations are in order for the extension. But getting a longer leash amid an acquisition probably doesn’t mean much, as things are sure to change once all the i’s are dotted, and the t’s are crossed.

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The expectation is that, once Netflix takes over WBD, movies will still head to theaters, but they won’t stay as long as they would’ve in the past. It sounds like the best a film can hope for is getting thirty days to turn a profit, which is a tall task. However, Netflix is betting big on the power of streaming, with it hoping to entice people to head to its service and potentially HBO Max by dropping all the latest releases.

Gunn probably won’t be the biggest fan of that model, but he’ll have to find common ground with Netflix if he wants to keep the good times rolling. The one silver lining is that the filmmaker’s next project, Man of Tomorrow, will begin filming in spring 2026, long before the purchase is supposed to be final. That means Netflix won’t have any say over the contracts that are signed for the sequel, and that a long theatrical run is likely in its future.

By summer 2027, Gunn and Safran are going to have to work out a new deal, or else Man of Tomorrow might be their swan song for DC. But that seems like a foregone conclusion at this point, because everyone and their mother can see that what the duo is cooking is working on both the big and small screens.

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