It seems that despite a new lockdown throughout the new United Kingdom, it won’t be reaching Gotham City.
On Monday it was announced that the United Kingdom would enter a new national lockdown, and this left some questions about television and film production and if it would be allowed to continue. The decision has been made to lockdown the four nations once again due to a new strain of the coronavirus that is rapidly spreading amongst the population.
The most recent lockdown rules do include a work from home order, but it was made clear that was only if your work could be done feasibly from home. This leaves some room for interpretation, but it was later cleared up by Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport in the U.K. “You should work from home unless you can’t – exemptions include for training and rehearsal of performances, recording studios and film & TV production.”
For the arts/creative sectors this means
You should work from home unless you can’t – exemptions include for training and rehearsal of performances, recording studios and film & TV production
Outdoor heritage sites and gardens can stay open for exercise
— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) January 4, 2021
There were questions about production on films & TV during the Nov. 2020 lockdown, but at that time Dowden had issued the same guidance.
The Batman already went through a lengthy shutdown due to the coronavirus when it was suspended in mid-March of 2020, and then resumed filming again in Aug. of the same year. Production was once again shut down for two weeks in Sept. when Robert Pattinson reportedly tested positive for the virus.
The Batman is scheduled to hit theaters on March 4, 2022.
