The level of hype surrounding Matt Reeves’ The Batman before the movie came out was definitely something for the cinematic history books, so much so that it even helped the crew of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore to avoid leaks.
As Eddie Redmayne (the leading man) explained it in a chat with IMDb, the paparazzi mistook their set for the Batcave. This came up when the star was asked about his most challenging scene to shoot, and he replied:
For me, it was one of the opening moments of the film and I ended up having to lie in this lake during a night shoot in December and I think it was the coldest I’ve ever been. What was hilarious about that though is that the sets, which are all super top secret, were filmed by a drone that came over and they were in all the newspapers and I was so upset because I didn’t want our sets to be given away but the great news is they thought it was the Bat Cave (from The Batman) and so I was like, ‘Oh, great! They have no idea.’
The footage from the set does resemble the Batcave, or at least variations of it from the live-action Dark Knight canon, especially Christopher Nolan’s trilogy. But much in the same way as the rest of the movie, Matt Reeves put a unique spin on the Batcave, one that didn’t involve waterfalls or lakes.
The Secrets of Dumbledore is currently playing in theaters. After a lackluster international opening last week, things are looking a bit brighter for J.K. Rowling’s scrutinized threequel to the middling Fantastic Beasts franchise as the movie looks towards a $45-50 million domestic opening weekend.