James Gunn sheds light on why ‘movies are suffering’, says it’s self-sabotage to force directors to shoot without scripts

In a conversation with Collider, James Gunn explained what is wrong with the film industry, and shed light on the DC Universe's future plans.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: November 28, 2024 01:24 PM IST

3 min read

James Gunn wants DC to adopt a new philosophy.

Guardians of the Galaxy director and co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn, recently shed light on the current status of the DC Universe and what his plans are for its future. Gunn promised that things are going to be different going forward, after a tumultuous decade for the franchise, which saw a string of commercial disappointments and a regime change. In an interview with Collider, Gunn also spoke about the state of the film industry in general, and offered his two cents on why ‘movies are suffering’.

Gunn plans on not aping the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and instead, creating a franchise in which films and shows can stand independently without requiring the audience to have done homework beforehand. The biggest change that he insists on is that no scripts will be greenlit unless they make the cut in terms of quality. Gunn talked about his early days in Hollywood, when scripts were “valued.”

He told Collider, “Scooby Doo got greenlit because people liked the script. You may like the movie, you may not like the movie, but it got green-lit because people like the script. People are green-lighting projects because an IP has to be out on a certain date, which means that the screenplays are worse and movies are suffering for it. TV is thriving because there’s so much good television out there, and movies are just really suffering, and it’s not because people don’t want to go to the box office. It’s not because people don’t care about that format anymore. It’s because the movies aren’t as good, and it all comes down to the writing. To have a director out there shooting his heart out and trying his best with something that doesn’t have a third act, it’s just self-sabotage, and we gotta quit doing it as an industry.”

On Threads, when a user asked if he’s going to follow the lead of Kevin Fiege (president of Marvel Studios), Gunn answered, “It won’t be exactly like Marvel because nothing is greenlit before we have a finished script.” He added, “We’re not about that.” We’re not about ‘see how it does’. We’ve got one opportunity to take these characters and really press forward and do what we believe. I am a great believer that if we tell good, authentic stories, if a movie does well or doesn’t do well, if you keep that same philosophy, you’re going to build a universe people are going to love and want to be a part of for a long time.”

James Gunn seems to have bridged the proverbial gap between DC and its closest competitor, Marvel. The DCU’s new animated series, Creature Commandos, will premiere on December 5, 2024.

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