It hasn’t exactly been plain sailing for The Batman, with the movie set to finally hit theaters seven years after it was first announced in October 2014. Obviously, when the Dark Knight’s latest standalone adventure originally entered pre-production, Ben Affleck was slated to star and direct before he ended up retiring from the role entirely, although he’s since been tempted back to play a major part in The Flash.
After Matt Reeves signed on as director, a lengthy casting process started, one that culminated in Robert Pattinson inheriting one of the most coveted gigs in the industry to the fury of the people that only knew him as the guy from Twilight. Cameras then started rolling in January of this year, only for The Batman to become one of the first major productions to be shut down as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
With the footage he had in the can, though, Reeves was able to assemble an incredible teaser trailer that debuted at DC FanDome to widespread acclaim, and the hype train looked to be firmly back on the tracks as filming resumed once again shortly after. However, The Batman faced another setback when it was revealed that an unnamed individual had tested positive for COVID-19, only for it to turn out that it was Pattinson himself.
Production has now been halted for a second time in accordance with the required safety protocols and WarnerMedia Studios & Networks chief Anna Sarnoff has officially commented on the matter, though her statement is as standard as you might expect.
“We’re still in the middle of investigating what is the situation. We’re pausing temporarily for now until we have more information, but we have all the protocols set up to do contact tracing and hopefully get back up into production very soon.”
Major Hollywood movies now have to have stringent testing practices in place before a single frame can be shot, which means that The Batman will be out of commission for a minimum of two weeks as the leading man follows the standard isolation procedures.
