Movie production across the board is a temperamental business right now, but The Batman has had a particularly hard time of it. Matt Reeves’ DC reboot was 1/4 of the way through filming when it had to shut down once the pandemic broke out. The shoot finally kicked off again this week, though, only for Robert Pattinson himself to come down with the coronavirus. Obviously, this necessitated a full shutdown once again.
So, when could The Batman resume filming after this latest stumbling block? Well, at this stage, it seems Warner Bros. has no idea. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, studio CEO Ann Sarnoff was asked to give us an update on a timeline for when the movie can get back to work, and here’s what she said:
“I don’t see things material changing until there is a medical solution, unless we were to reach herd immunity somehow. Instead, we are just proceeding as if there won’t be and resuming production as safely as we can.”
Elsewhere in the same interview, Sarnoff was asked to confirm whether Pattinson is indeed the cast member known to have contracted COVID-19, as has been widely reported. The CEO refused to do so, though, citing that she had to respect the person’s privacy. This lack of official comment on the situation from the studio, and the silence from Pattinson himself, who doesn’t have social media, has left fans wondering about the actor’s well being. We know he’s tested positive for the virus, for instance, but we don’t yet know how much it’s affected his health.
We do know one crew member who previously passed away from the illness after contracting it on set, though. Dialect coach Andrew Jack (76), who also worked on the Star Wars sequels, died in March from complications from COVID-19. Matt Reeves paid tribute to him on Twitter at the time, calling him a “legend” and a “kind man.”
The Batman is currently scheduled to hit theaters on October 1st, 2021, after being pushed back from its original June date.
