Who knew that a TCA panel about the upcoming series “The Passage” would give fans more information about Matt Reeves’ upcoming ‘Batman‘ film than the entirety of the recent San Diego Comic-Con? But here we are!
Speaking at the recent TCA event for the aforementioned series (via Slash Film), the filmmaker behind the upcoming ‘Batman’ reboot film opened up about the progress of the film, Ben Affleck’s status, and whether or not the film will be yet another origin story.
“We are working on getting our draft [in] the next couple weeks,” Reeves said. “Right now, my head is totally into the script. Right now, I’m going to be leaving here to go back to work on the script.”
He continues by saying that the film is being worked on at a fast pace, with an eye on “spring or early summer” for a production start date. That would mean that “The Batman” (or whatever it ends up being titled) joins the upcoming “Joker” and “Birds of Prey” as films that are inching closer to apparent production dates but have yet to be officially announced. WB is being really cautious about these films, huh?
Moving on to the status of current Batman actor Ben Affleck, Reeves remains coy. “We’re one piece of many pieces so I don’t want to comment on that except to say that I’m focused very specifically on this aspect of the DC world,” the filmmaker said. Hmmmmm. The “will he or won’t he” continues.
However, the big info dump came when he was asked if the film will tackle the classic “Year One” storyline, which has been recently rumored. “We’re not doing any particular [comic],” Reeves said. “’Year One’ is one of the many comic books that I love. We are definitely not doing ‘Year One.’ It’s just exciting to be focused very specifically on a tale that is defining for him and very personal to him. Obviously we’re not doing an origin tale or anything like that. We’re doing a story that is definitively Batman though and trying to tell a story that’s emotional and yet is really about him being the world’s greatest detective and all the things that for me, since I was a kid, made me love Batman.”
It sounds as if Reeves is going to treat “The Batman” the same way that Marvel Studios treated “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” It’s a new thing, but there’s no wasted time telling an origin that anyone above the age of 5 can tell you.
Ultimately, the director thinks he’s found a way to bring something new to the character that has appeared in numerous films. “I’ve talked about making it a very point of view noir-driven definitive Batman story in which he is investigating a particular case and that takes us out into the world of Gotham,” Reeves said. “I went on a deep dive again revisiting all my favorite comics. Those all inform by osmosis. There’s no continuation of the Nolan films. It’s very much trying to find a way to do this as something that for me is going to be definitively Batman and new and cool.”
If Reeves is correct, and filming begins in the first half of 2019, we can most likely expect the new ‘Batman’ film to hit theaters in 2020. But perhaps WB should go ahead and announce the thing already?
