What does James Gunn leaving his DC gig mean for future projects in Atlanta?

Metro Atlanta resident James Gunn is the primary reason two “Superman” movies and two DC HBO Max series have been shot in Georgia over the past two years.

But now that Gunn has stepped down as co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios after four years, DC’s future in Georgia is murkier. His departure announcement comes a month after Skydance took over Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns DC Studios.

After signing on as chief, he made Georgia the primary home for the shooting of 2025’s “Superman,” which he wrote and directed.

“I have the power to do that,” Gunn told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year before the film’s debut. “Most filmmakers do not.”

In recent years, TV and film studios have found it cheaper to shoot big budget films overseas in countries such as the United Kingdom, Hungary and Australia. Georgia’s generous tax credit system couldn’t offset lower crew wages and benefits and in some cases, even stronger tax incentives.

Marvel Studios, for instance, uprooted from Atlanta in 2024 after a decade in the metro area to focus its tent-pole films in the United Kingdom. The third and fourth “Avengers” movies were filmed largely in metro Atlanta but the upcoming version set to be released next month was shot in England and Bahrain.

But Gunn, as a top executive and creative, made metro Atlanta home to multiple DC Studios productions despite slightly higher costs.

Unfortunately, he did not enjoy juggling dual roles as filmmaker and suit, he said in a social media post Monday: “My time at DC Studios has been trying, to say the least. I dislike the at-times corporate nature of the job … I’m also incredibly relieved and excited to get back to pure filmmaking.”

Gunn’s sway over whether he can continue to shoot in metro Atlanta is unclear.

He first worked in metro Atlanta in 2016 to direct “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2″ at what was then called Pinewood Studios Atlanta in Fayetteville and quickly fell in love with the area.

In 2018, he bought a home for $1.3 million in Fayette County, according to the Robb Report. (He also owns Mia Farrow’s former Bel Air home in the Los Angeles area.)

He then produced “The Suicide Squad” in Atlanta in late 2019 and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3″ in 2021 and 2022 out of Trilith Studios, which was previously called Pinewood.

Since he took over DC Studios, he has split productions between the U.K. and Georgia.

After finishing the first “Superman,” Gunn shot the second season of HBO Max’s “Peacemaker” starring John Cena in Atlanta in 2024. Earlier this year, Gunn filmed the sequel “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” out of Trilith followed by HBO Max’s “The People vs. Gorilla Grodd,” an eight-episode crime mockumentary comedy which wrapped last month.

“The People vs. Gorilla Grodd” shot on location at places like Georgia Tech, the High Museum and Georgia State University.

While the 2025 “Superman” did well enough to merit a sequel, DC film “Supergirl,” filmed principally in England, was a bust, generating just $126 million in worldwide box office on an estimated $170 million budget.

The most recent DC release “Clayface,” also shot in England, is an R-rated psychological thriller that was filmed at a much lower budget than traditional superhero films in the range of $44 million, according to Variety. It has earned more than $110 million in global domestic box office since its release more than two weeks ago.