Four days ago, the DC community was placed on red alert after online movie pundit John Campea claimed to have caught wind of some “really bad news” concerning the DC Extended Universe.
Before we get into the weeds, we should stress that Campea’s track record has been pretty solid when it comes to Warner’s superhero franchise, as he was the first to break news that Jake Gyllenhaal had met with Matt Reeves about potentially headlining The Batman – presumably at the expense of Ben Affleck (Justice League), whose career as Gotham’s Caped Crusader appears to be nearing an end.
However, Campea’s gloomy forecast is yet to transpire, leading fellow industry sleuth Mario-Francisco Robles to publish a new, comprehensive report that attempts to find out exactly what’s going on with the standalone Batman movie. And to cut a long story short, it appears Matt Reeves is still in the process of hammering out his script, but he’s not solely to blame for the lack of tangible progress.
As Robles points out, a lot has transpired since Reeves took charge of The Batman last year – Wonder Woman smashed box office expectations for a truly historic run, while the opposite is true for Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon’s Justice League. DC Films also experienced a major shake-up, beginning with the appointment of Walter Hamada.
All of this has seemingly had a knock-on effect on The Batman, which is still considered a “top priority” for Warner Bros. even after this slow start. It’s for this reason that the studio has quietly pumped the brakes on Nightwing and Batgirl, among other projects, as the Powers That Be want to cement Batman’s place in the DCEU first before devoting their attention to spinoffs and whatnot.
It looks certain that Warner Bros. will continue to accommodate Matt Reeves as time wears on, too, rendering all reports of internal strife as total hogwash.
Per MFR:
It sounds like the two sides have just been trying to iron out the logistics for the film, and that DC Entertainment has voiced to the War For The Planet of The Apes director that The Batman is a top priority for them.
At least for now, The Batman remains in the early stages of development over at Warner Bros., where Reeves is still crafting his screenplay into shape. Word is he’s been given Nolan-like control of the standalone pic, all but confirming that WB has no intention of rushing the director and his creative team – lest the end product suffer as a result of studio meddling.
