David Ellison’s ‘Man of Tomorrow’ Set Visit Reportedly Won Paramount Over on DC’s Decade-Long Plan

DC Studios has spent the past few months in an unusual spot, caught between a growing slate of superhero projects and a corporate takeover that could reshape everything around it. Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery was announced on February 27 and is expected to close Tuesday. David Ellison’s visit to the ‘Man of Tomorrow’ set is now part of the story of how DC fits into that new world.

The merged company will operate under the Skydance name, which revives the production company Ellison founded in 2006. Ellison has lined up Paramount Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein to oversee the film units. Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, the current Warner Bros. film chiefs, are expected to depart. That left a big question hanging over James Gunn and Peter Safran, the co-heads of DC Studios.

Now, a new detail has surfaced. Bloomberg reported that Ellison visited the Atlanta set of the Superman sequel earlier this year, and that Gunn and Safran used the trip to present DC’s 10-year plan and strategy to Paramount leadership. Ellison backed that vision during the meeting. Other coverage of the report describes the plan as an effort to revive the DC label, and says Gunn and Safran will join Paramount once the deal closes.

The attention makes sense, because it explains a lot about where DC stands and why fans have been watching the merger so closely. Rather than waiting for a restructuring to decide their fate, Gunn and Safran apparently made their case in person, on the set of their next big tentpole.

Deadline reported that the pair will keep leading DC Studios’ film, television and comics operations after the merger. According to that reporting, Ellison asked them to keep running the studio 4 years after they were first named to the job. Bleeding Cool added that Ellison met with them on a Thursday ahead of the closing and that the conversation went well, with the message boiling down to keep doing what they are doing.

Their contracts still expire in 2027, which gives the arrangement a built-in checkpoint. That timing makes the next year of releases feel more important than usual.

‘Man of Tomorrow‘ is set to arrive on July 9, 2027, with David Corenswet returning as Superman and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, who is battling Brainiac. Rachel Brosnahan and Skyler Gisondo are also back, and filming wrapped earlier this year.

Early industry chatter has been positive. Journalist Jeff Sneider said on ‘The Hot Mic’ podcast that he has heard good things internally, though he did not elaborate. Still, one outlet noted that if the sequel stumbles at the box office, Ellison could reconsider his support.

DC Studios’ output so far has been uneven. ‘Superman’ and ‘Lanterns’ performed well, while ‘Supergirl’ underperformed critically and commercially. On the television side, ‘Peacemaker’ and ‘Creature Commandos’ found an audience.

Next up is ‘Clayface’, which arrives on October 23 and is projected to open between $23 million and $33 million. That makes it the first real test of the DC brand under the incoming ownership.

Plenty of details remain unsettled. It is unclear whether DC Studios will report to Goldberg and Greenstein or keep a more direct line to Ellison. Sources also described DC Comics as a source of intellectual property that could be encouraged to develop more titles tied to the broader company portfolio, though the core operation is expected to stay distinct.

Ellison also reportedly intends for the combined studios to release 30 movies in theaters each year, which could give DC more room to expand its slate. That volume would also raise the stakes for every individual release. For now, the takeaway is simple: the people who built the current DC slate appear to have convinced the person writing the checks.

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