James Gunn
Biography
James Francis Gunn Jr. (born August 5, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He began his career as a screenwriter in the mid-1990s, starting at Troma Entertainment with Tromeo and Juliet (1996). He then began working as a director, starting with the horror-comedy film Slither (2006), and moving to the superhero genre with Super (2010), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), The Suicide Squad (2021), and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).
In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery hired Gunn and his longtime producer, Peter Safran, to serve as co-chairmen and co-CEOs of DC Studios. Under DC Studios, Gunn co-produced and executive produced every film and television series in the DC Universe (DCU) media franchise alongside Safran, which serves as a soft reboot of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). In the DCU, he created the series Creature Commandos (2024) and wrote and directed the film Superman (2025).
He also wrote and directed the web series James Gunn's PG Porn (2008–2009), the HBO Max original series Peacemaker (2022–2025) and the Disney+ original special The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022). Other work for which he is known include writing for the 2004 remake of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), writing the live-action adaptation of Scooby Doo (2002), and its sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), writing and producing the horror-action film The Belko Experiment (2016), producing the superhero-horror film Brightburn (2019), and contributing to comedy-anthology film Movie 43 (2013) (directing the segment "Beezel") and the 2012 hack-and-slash video game Lollipop Chainsaw.
Most directed genres
Recurring actors
- Michael Rooker 6
- Chris Pratt 5
- Bradley Cooper 4
- Dave Bautista 4
- Karen Gillan 4
- Sean Gunn 4
- Vin Diesel 4
- Pom Klementieff 3
The career in numbers
- US$ 1.4 bi Total budget from 9 film(s) with data
- US$ 3.3 bi Total box office from 8 film(s) with data
- US$ 154 mi Average budget from 9 film(s) with data
- US$ 414 mi Average box office from 8 film(s) with data
- 7.0 Average rating from 9 film(s) with data
- 3.1× Return on investment from 8 film(s) with data
Budget and box office do not exist for every film in our records. Averages are computed over the films that carry the figure, and the count beside each one says how many.
Films directed
| Film | Year | Budget | Box office | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Man of Tomorrow
|
2027 | US$ 330 mi | — | — |
Superman
|
2025 | US$ 225 mi | US$ 619 mi | 7.3 |
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
|
2023 | US$ 250 mi | US$ 846 mi | 7.9 |
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
|
2022 | — | — | 7.1 |
The Suicide Squad
|
2021 | US$ 185 mi | US$ 169 mi | 7.4 |
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
|
2017 | US$ 200 mi | US$ 864 mi | 7.6 |
Guardians of the Galaxy
|
2014 | US$ 170 mi | US$ 773 mi | 7.9 |
Movie 43
|
2013 | US$ 6 mi | US$ 32 mi | 4.7 |
Super
|
2010 | US$ 3 mi | US$ 1 mi | 6.5 |
Humanzee!
|
2008 | — | — | 4.5 |
Slither
|
2006 | US$ 15 mi | US$ 13 mi | 6.5 |
Hamster PSA
|
1997 | — | — | 5.0 |
