Someone light the Batsignal again, it looks like The Batman is in need of another new director. A week after he was tapped to helm Ben Affleck’s solo Batman movie, Matt Reeves wants out. He’s exited the talks and is hard at work on post-production on War for the Planet of the Apes.
Like any job, writing about the latest news in the world of entertainment can wear on you after long enough, so you gotta appreciate the little pearls of amusement where you can get them. Personally, watching the latest solo Batman project fall apart in slow motion has been a perverse thrill over the past couple of months: star Ben Affleck was gonna direct (maybe) the film titled The Batman, then he was definitely gonna direct it, then he backpedaled a little bit, then he requested that people stop asking him about it, then he face-planted onto the sidewalk with the costly flop Live By Night, and then look at that, he wasn’t taking the director’s chair after all. The indignities kept coming, as Warner Bros. ordered sweeping rewrites to this floundering project before landing Planet of the Apes remake maestro Matt Reeves to fill the directorial vacuum.
A story, told in headlines: Here’s us on December 18, reporting on Ben Affleck’s voicing of slight misgivings about his tentative gig as the director of the new Batman solo film:
There seems to be a bit of conflicting information regarding Ben Affleck’s standalone Batman movie: Last week, Zack Snyder set his next directing project as WB pushed back the release of Justice League 2, reportedly to make room for the Batman movie. Earlier this week, Affleck said he’s taking his time with the project and making sure the script, which he’s co-writing with Geoff Johns, is right before heading into production. But now, Affleck has confirmed that his Batman film will shoot next spring, while WB president Greg Silverman says it’s on track for a 2018 release.
One of the biggest problems (and one that we’ve covered quite a bit) with Warner Bros’ DCEU is the way the studio is reverse-engineering its Justice League franchise. Instead of establishing their characters in individual films and slowly building toward a big crossover, they’ve done the reverse. And by building their productions around meeting a release date deadline, they wind up with films that are kind of a mess. If Ben Affleck’s approach to his Batman standalone film (and the recent decision to delay Justice League 2) is any indication, then maybe — just maybe — WB is learning from their mistakes.
After Batman vs. Superman, Ben Affleck is only officially contracted to star as Batman in two more movies: the two-part Justice League film. (He also makes a cameo appearance in this summer’s Suicide Squad.) There have been rumors about Affleck directing himself in a Batman solo movie set for release in 2019 and now comes word that Affleck has already written the script...
If that brief clip from earlier this week featuring the Dark Knight being unmasked by the Man of Steel didn’t do the trick for you, then you’re in luck because Warner Bros. has released a new, full trailer from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Following the premiere on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the latest preview for the epic superhero battle is now online for your viewing pleasure, featuring plenty of new footage of Bats, Supes, Wonder Woman and more.