Some conflicting info is emerging about why Luca Guadagnino’s “Sgt. Rock” got axed by Warner Bros, from various sources, and there’s even a THR source that believes the film isn’t entirely “canceled,” but might actually be shooting in summer 2026. I don’t really buy that. I think the project is toast.
Regardless, here’s THR tackling what they’ve heard.
It is unclear why the project has been shut down, although an insider said it came down to the project’s scheduling needs for shooting outdoors. The insider said that the project was not going away, and would be reassessed at the end of the year for a possible summer shoot in 2026. Another source raised the possibility that Guadagnino remained untested in the realm of action movies, and even though the budget was in the $70 million range, a paltry sum for comic book movies, higher-ups may have wavered in their confidence.
The scheduling excuse doesn’t make much sense, but I can believe the second theory — Guadagnoino is known for his arthouse films, and hasn’t really directed a full-fledged action flick before, let alone a superhero movie, so the DCU and Warner Bros getting cold feet because of his inexperience would make perfect sense.
Guadagnino was in the middle of pre-production when he got the news that “Sgt. Rock” got canned. He was supposed to shoot the film in July. There were three main actors attached — Jeremy Allen White, Mike Faist and David Jonsson — and he had even hired a DP (Sayombhu Mukdeeprom), Composers (Reznor/Ross) and costume designer (Jonathan Anderson).