Warner Bros. has reportedly found their man to helm the next solo Batman film.
Matt Reeves is rumored to be in early negotiations to take over directing duties of ‘The Batman’ from Ben Affleck after Affleck stepped down from the position earlier this year.
Variety is reporting that their sources have told them Reeves has already committed to the project but the deal hasn’t been officially signed yet. Variety was also the first to report that the ‘Cloverfield’ director was high on a shortlist of directors they had in mind once Affleck decided not to direct but meetings with other film makers were still ongoing until recently.
This particular situation is not strange to Matt Reeves though. Reeves actually has replaced a director before as he did by stepping into the ‘Planet Of The Apes’ rebooted franchise when he took over ‘Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes’ from Rupert Wyatt after Wyatt had successfully brought the franchise back to prominence with 2011’s ‘Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes’. Even with that pressure on his back Reeves’ installment in the Apes series was just as critically acclaimed and financially successful as Wyatt’s installment. Which bodes well for Warner Bros.
If the deal officially goes through Ben Affleck will still have a huge role in the film. This will be the first standalone Batman film for Affleck who besides portraying the caped crusader, has co-written the script with DC head honcho Geoff Johns and also will be a producer on the movie as well. The step down from directing will give Affleck more time to focus on his portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman who he feels warrants such focus because of how iconic a character he is.
With the director questions seemingly out of the way, the attention now turns to when will ‘The Batman’ start production? Reeves is currently in post production on ‘War For The Planet Of The Apes’ which is scheduled for a July release this year but should be freed up to begin his prep work for ‘The Batman’ right after. Filming was supposed to start in May but after Affleck stepping down as director and coming off a very busy 2016 that included shooting and publicity tours for ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice’, ‘The Accountant’ and his passion project ‘Live By Night’, taking a break and pushing back the start date is more than understandable, especially since there will be more publicity coming this year for the upcoming ‘Justice League’ movie. That being said, seeing as how fast Warner Bros. and company has hired a new director would lead one to believe that production will be starting sooner rather than later.
While this will be Matt Reeves’ first foray into the comic book world, his past films have included dealing with monsters the size of skyscrapers, super intelligent-human like apes and even vampires (‘Let Me In’), so I think he is well equipped to take on ‘The Dark Knight’ and make a fantastic movie.
Joshua Christmas
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