Filmmaker and DC Studios co-head James Gunn asserts that the film industry's decline stems directly from productions moving forward with incomplete screenplays. He recently told Rolling Stone that this practice, not audience disinterest or improved home viewing, is the primary culprit behind a glut of poor films. "The number-one reason is because people are making movies without a finished screenplay," Gunn stated.
Since taking the helm at DC Studios alongside Peter Safran, Gunn has implemented a strict policy: no superhero film under his watch enters production until its script is finalised. He even revealed that they recently scrapped a greenlit project for this very reason.
"Everybody wanted to make the movie. It was greenlit, ready to go," the filmmaker explained. "The screenplay wasn’t ready. And I couldn’t do a movie where the screenplay’s not good." Gunn highlighted the success of this approach, citing strong initial scripts for upcoming projects. "We've been really lucky so far, because Supergirl's script was so good off the bat. And then Lanterns came in, and the script was so good. Clayface, same thing. So good."
He also credits the absence of a quota from Warner Bros. for DC projects, contrasting it with Disney's past mandate for Marvel films and TV shows, which he believes "killed them." Disney CEO Bob Iger has since shifted Marvel's focus to quality over quantity.
"We have to treat every project as if we're lucky," Gunn emphasised. "We don't have the mandate [at DC Studios] to have a certain amount of movies and TV shows every year. So we're going to put out everything that we think is of the highest quality... Nothing goes before there's a screenplay that I personally am happy with."