Matt Reeves’ The Batman has finally entered pre-production. Well, if this little tidbit of information turns out to be true anyway. The IMDb Pro updates for the film today announced that it’s moved from the scripting stage to pre-production. So, what does this mean?
Well, with The Dark Knight Rises being the last solo Batman outing and a lot of attention given to the casting of Robert Pattinson, it appears that Warner Bros. are eager to finally get this one out of the gate. We’re hearing that the studio is targeting a June 25th, 2021 release date, with the shoot commencing in late 2019/early 2020.
My guess is that tucked away on the Warner Bros. lot are teams of artists conceptualizing what Pattinson’s take on the hero should look like. There’s a lot of design work that goes into a Batman movie, with the Dark Knight trilogy raising the bar for what audiences expect. I’d imagine that Pattinson is being measured for his Batsuit, and there are several prototypes being constructed as we speak. The Batmobile is another major part of the film, too, with audiences primed to expect a unique and memorable vehicle in each installment. Let’s hope they build a working model as Christopher Nolan did with the Tumbler.
Beyond that, it’s all a bit hazy. Though there’s perpetual gossip about which villain will anchor the film, we don’t as yet have any idea, save for the rumor that the pic will contain a large selection of the classic antagonists.
Despite this lack of knowledge though, one thing we can trust are those long-standing rumors that The Batman will be about the character’s formative years in the costume, with the focus on him becoming the “World’s Greatest Detective.” If nothing else, this should make for a nice change from the Affleck Batman’s grizzled one-man army routine.
Having said that, there’ve been many, many stories about Batman learning the ropes, so I hope Reeves doesn’t just retread Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One again. In any case, I suspect we’ll see something concrete about The Batman soon enough, be it further casting news or a sneak peek of Pattinson in the suit. Here’s hoping.