Concept art and pitches are generally not our bag, but what if some of the team members behind Sony’s dynamic and visually arresting “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” franchise could do for Batman, what the ‘Spider-Verse’ team did for Spider-Man? That’s kind of the pitch, it seems. Yuhki Demers, a production designer at Netflix and visual development member on both ‘Spider-Verse’ films, revealed that he and director Patrick Harpin (“My Dad The Bounty Hunter”) pitched a “Batman Beyond” animated movie to Warner Bros. According to Demers on social media (see below), the pair were essentially shot down from the jump, but then their pitch turned into a “maybe.” Now they’re turning to social media to see if they can drum up some enthusiasm for the project, but truthfully, even its three images look pretty amazing.
READ MORE: DC Studios Reportedly Scraps A ‘Batman Beyond’ Movie With Michael Keaton
“Five months ago, Patrick Harpin walked into @wbpictures @DCofficial and pitched a Batman Beyond Animated Feature,” Demers wrote and explained on Twitter. “Before we pitched, they warned us, “There is absolutely no way we can do a ‘Beyond’ movie,” but they loved our enthusiasm. We pitched the outline for the entire film, and what started as a “never” turned into a “maybe.”
“In the time since, we’ve been pitching our way up the company hoping to get to [DC Studios’ co-CEO] Jame Gunn,” he continued. “But for now, here’s a taste of what we’ve been cooking. LIKE & SHARE if you want to see a ‘Batman Beyond’ animated feature in theater 🦇 #batmanbeyond from Writer/Director Patrick Harpin (“My Dad The Bounty Hunter”) & Production Designer/Producer Yuhki Demers (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” (“Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse”).”
Most pitches of this ilk, pleading with social media for help, generally go nowhere. Still, the artwork is pretty spectacular, semi-similar to the ‘Spider-Verse’ look, and the idea of a “Batman: Beyond” animated movie sounds pretty great. Furthermore, a vague adaptation of “Batman: Beyond” seemed like it would be on the table for the DC Universe.
“Batman Beyond” started as an animated series in 1999 and featured a teenaged Batman (Terry McGinnis) in a futuristic Gotham City under the tutelage of an elderly Bruce Wayne, who acted as his mentor.
When Michael Keaton joined the DCEU all too briefly, with only one appearance in “The Flash,” ultimately, it was initially reported that he would stick around and perhaps have a similar mentor role to the rest of the members of the Justice League. Keaton did shoot a cameo scene for “Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom,” but once James Gunn took over and the DCEU became DC Universe and DC Studios, all the interconnectivity that pointed to other and future films was scrapped when it became clear that era of DC heroes was ending. Essentially, some form of live-action “Batman: Beyond” seemed to be in the cards briefly before the idea was scuttled.
Again, we’re not very convinced an appeal to social media will help much, but artwork pitches come and go, and not only is this one striking and impressive. Not only that but “Spider-Verse: Into The Spider-Verse” remains a game-changer in superhero films, one of the best superhero films bar none. Gunn recently expressed wanting to work with Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, the godfathers, overseers, and producers on the ‘Spider-Verse’ movies, and while they’re not involved in this pitch, who knows, maybe planets could align because it’s the rare random social media idea that does sound like an exciting prospect.
Check out the pitch below, and let’s hope we see some more in the upcoming weeks.