One of the most hotly-contested of all the upcoming DCEU projects is The Batman, with the future of the movie up in the air at the moment. In the wake of Justice League‘s theatrical release, we learned that Ben Affleck likely won’t return for the solo film that he was initially slated to write, direct and star in. Instead, Jake Gyllenhaal is said to be the top candidate to replace him, though other names such as Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm have also come up.
Amidst all this behind-the-scenes upheaval, a new report suggests that Warner Bros. have decided to postpone the movie so as to work out all the kinks. Mario-Francisco Robles of El Fanboy has heard from his sources that the studio is effectively “hibernating for the winter,” following the fallout of Justice League. The thinking is that WB is “taking time to assess exactly how to proceed on everything.”
In particular, this means that The Batman as a whole is being putting on ice, as Mr. Freeze might say, for now. As Robles put it:
“This means that anything related to Ben Affleck, Jake Gyllenhaal, and the solo Batman movie is on the back-burner for now. The film isn’t likely to come out until 2020, meaning they don’t need to have a finished script for another year, and they don’t need to have the Affleck situation sorted out until then either.”
The interesting thing to note here is that the arrival date for the movie has now been pushed back to 2020, a far cry from the initial plan for it to arrive in 2018. According to Robles, the studio feels that “they learned, the hard way, what happens when you rush things. They’re making sure Reeves has whatever time he needs to get this done right.”
Furthermore, the report also claims that WB are giving director Matt Reeves “Nolan-era control,” referring to the complete creative control that Christopher Nolan had over his Dark Knight trilogy. In the wake of the backlash against Justice League‘s studio-mandated reshoots, that’s probably a good move. This also means that Reeves can hire Gyllenhaal, despite WB’s reported uncertainty about the casting. “They promised him autonomy,” Robles says. “If he wants Gyllenhaal, he’ll get Gyllenhaal.”
If this report is to be believed, then, don’t expect The Batman to arrive for a while. But, when it does, it’s likely going to have Gyllenhaal under the cowl.