It's been a turbulent few months for Warner Bros. Discovery. With the arrival of new CEO David Zaslav, there has been a lot of upheaval in the studio's upcoming releases, and it appears Matt Reeves' The Batman sequel isn't officially safe as of now.
As for the rest of the DCEU releases on the docket, there have already been considerable issues behind the scenes with release shuffling happening more than once and the ongoing saga of Ezra Miller's increasingly startling behavior. As for the DCEU, there are completed projects on the horizon but the only new title currently confirmed is the Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux. Not even Reeves' blockbusting film The Batman has officially been given the go-ahead.
Variety reports that writer-director Reeves and lead star Robert Pattinson are said to be on track for a sequel, however, the project is still in development with no official green light from Warner Bros. Discovery as yet. If the sequel is given the all-clear, it will still be several years before audiences see Bats on the big screen again. Matt Reeves' The Batman was produced for upwards of $200 million and made $770 million globally, which was no mean feat as one of the first cinematic releases at the height of the pandemic. The Batman was a way of rebooting the franchise once again after Ben Affleck departed the role following the poorly received Justice League film.
The official announcement for Joker 2 was followed up with the news that it would be a musical and also feature Lady Gaga co-starring alongside Joaquin Phoenix. The first film racked up $1.07 billion globally following its release in 2019 and the sequel is set to have a much bigger budget than the first, looking at roughly $150 million in production costs. Of course, anything can happen during production and that cost could easily increase. In terms of superhero movie budgets, that is still lower than most.
Robert Pattinson donned the cowl and cape as Bruce Wayne and The Batman also features Colin Farrell as the Penguin, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and Paul Dano as The Riddler. The film sees Batman take on the case of a murderer targeting key political figures in Gotham City. It also sees Bruce face the corruption in the city and his family's part in the troubled history of the power dynamics in Gotham.
The Batman is available on HBO Max.
Source: Variety