Last year's SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes caused chaos in Hollywood, and even with them now resolved, the effects are still being felt.
Today, Deadline brings word that The Batman 2 is moving from its planned October 3, 2025 release date to October 2, 2026. That's a delay of an entire year (give or take a day), news which will come as a blow to fans eager to return to this version of Gotham City.
By the time The Batman sequel arrives in theaters, it will have been nearly four-and-a-half years since its predecessor was released. As fantastic as Matt Reeves' movie was, it begs the question of why Warner Bros. isn't just shifting focus to DC Studios' The Brave and the Bold instead of having two competing versions of the Dark Knight in multiplexes around the same time.
There's no word on what this means for that DCU-set reboot, but today's news means 2025 belongs solely to James Gunn's SUPERMAN.
The Batman grossed $772 million in 2022 and was a critical hit. Taking its place next October is The Bride!, a new take on The Bride of Frankenstein from director Maggie Gyllenhaal. The cast includes Christian Bale, Jesse Buckley, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, and Penelope Cruz.
"I have had so many wonderful collaborators to work with, and when you find someone who you love working with, you just wanna [say,] "Come on, please, let’s just keep working together. How much farther can we push it?'" Reeves said of his plans for The Batman 2 last summer.
"Like, I’ve been talking to [cinematographer Greig Fraser] about - I’m trying to write the next movie now with my partner, and we’re doing this thing - and he’s going, 'Let’s just push it farther.' And I was like, 'Yeah, that would be really exciting to do.'"
Before that, he was quoted as saying, "Whatever that story’s going to be, it’s going to be to take these characters and put them in some kind of emotional jeopardy. There’s a deep-dive that already happened at the beginning and now I’m gonna have to deep-dive again."
While The Batman 2 is coming later than expected, The Penguin is still expected to premiere on Max later this year. If nothing else, that should make the wait between both movies a little easier for DC fans to accept!
As always, keep checking back here for updates on The Batman franchise as we have them.