DCEU Producer Charles Roven Shares His Thoughts on James Gunn’s DCU

When we look at all the projects that Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment developed throughout history, there’s no denying that many of them have left a huge impact on the entire genre. Starting with 1978’s ‘Superman,’ the first theatrical superhero movie ever; Tim Burton’s acclaimed ‘Batman’ duology, which brought Batman to the mainstream; Christopher Nolan’s highly acclaimed ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy, one of the best movie trilogies of all time; and let’s not forget 2019’s ‘Joker,’ which was nominated for eleven Academy Awards.

Of course, with all those hits, DC also had plenty of misses. And that hit-or-miss pattern wasn’t avoided when DC tried to create its own cinematic universe. While 2013’s ‘Man of Steel’ was indeed a solid start, and even though ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ was expected to achieve better critical and commercial results, the franchise stepped on a landmine with 2017’s ‘Justice League.’ And even though the franchise spawned some good and solid installments, it was obvious that the franchise had no idea where it was supposed to go, resulting in Warner Bros.’s decision to pull the plug and hire James Gunn and Peter Safran to build the whole thing from the ground up. Well, almost.

DCEU producer talks about James Gunn’s soft-reboot franchise

Thoughts about Gunn’s DCU are divisive at the moment. Some fans are looking forward to it, some are still asking for the co-called Snyderverse to be restored, and some are just confused with all the contradictory announcements.

Charles Roven, a producer and the owner of Atlas Entertainment, who previously produced Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy, as well as the majority of DCEU movies, including James Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad,’ opened up about Gunn’s DCU in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“Right now, they’re really rebooting everything, and it’s a little bit unclear to me exactly how finite their desire is to use or not use any DCEU actors in the same roles. So I’m not really sure, but at the moment, we’re not really having any discussions. James and I are good friends. My wife and I are very good friends with him and his wife, Jenn [Holland]. And so we see each other socially, but we’re not currently talking about any business. But that could change.”

Charles Roven for The Hollywood Reporter

Apart from producing many DC movies, Roven is also known for producing David O. Russell’s ‘American Hustle,’ which granted him an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The last superhero movie Roven produced is 2021’s ‘The Suicide Squad,’ after which he also produced ‘Uncharted’ and Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer.’ As he said, it’s unknown if he’s going to be involved in more DC projects once DCU officially starts with James Gunn’s ‘Superman: Legacy,’ which is set to be released in July 2025.

Dc Extended Universe has two movies left to be released; ‘Blue Beetle’ and ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.’ In 2024, there’s only one live-action DC movie set to be released, ‘Joker: Folie à Deux,’ which is an Elseworlds project, separated from any cinematic universes. While DC Studios will continue to develop Elseworlds projects such as ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ and Matt Reeves’ ‘The Batman — Part II,’ the majority of upcoming DC projects will be set in DCU, including movies, live-action TV shows, and animated TV shows.

The first DCU project, the ‘Creature Commandos’ animated series, written by James Gunn, is set to premiere on the Max streaming platform in 2024. The first DCU movie, James Gunn’s ‘Superman: Legacy,’ is scheduled to open in theaters on July 11, 2025.

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