It’s been a busy couple of weeks for rumors and reports pertaining to Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Today, a new report at Forbes clarifies what is actually going on as it relates to when the film will start production, when it could hit theaters, how many villains it may have, and just how attached Jack O’Connell is or isn’t to the title role.
Nearly two weeks ago, The Hollywood Reporter mentioned a November 2019 start to principal photography. Reeves had previously stated his goal to start shooting this spring or summer. THR‘s updated production timetable had some thinking there was still hope of seeing The Batman in late 2020, but that’s not going to happen.
Forbes reports that 2020 absolutely is not going to happen and The Batman is tentatively scheduled for release in 2021 but could be pushed back another year to 2022. Summer 2021 appears to be the most likely landing spot, but the situation is fluid, up to and including the production start date which is not guaranteed to be November.
There is no official start date for principal photography at this time. It will be in the latter half of 2019 at the earliest, but could also begin in 2020 depending on a number of factors including when Warner Bros. wants to release the film.
Jack O’Connell has been a fixture of casting rumors for the next big-screen Batman for several months. His name came up again this week, but according to Forbes, no discussions have taken place between Warner Bros. and O’Connell regarding The Batman. It’s possible his name has been mentioned internally by the studio and/or Reeves, but that would be as far as it goes at this stage. O’Connell may ultimately play Batman, but it’s still way too early to tell.
Earlier this week, it was rumored that there would be another villain in The Batman besides Penguin. Forbes reports it will be more than that with Penguin being one of a few villains in Reeves’ film.
The keyword from Forbes in all of this is patience, both for fans and the studio. DC Films boss Walter Hamada isn’t rushing anything. There are other projects in development, like Supergirl and Batgirl, that could end up in front of or behind The Batman on WB’s slate. The studio is still deciding how its future DC projects will connect with one another, as well as the previously-released films of the DCEU.
SOURCE: Forbes
