We recently learned that The Batman 2 (previously titled The Batman Part II) has been delayed by another year. Speculation has since run rampant about why we'll be waiting that extra 364 days, with social media scoopers strongly hinting at issues in filmmaker Matt Reeves' personal life.
While it would be wrong to speculate about what those might be, The Batman director did allude to something along those lines while appearing on the Golden Globes red carpet yesterday evening.
Praising The Penguin star Colin Farrell, Reeves said, "There's [been] a lot of stuff going on in my life in the last year or so and he's been such a good friend. [He's] such a beautiful man."
He added, "I can tell you that we're going to be shooting this year and that we're excited about it. I can't really tell you anything about it except that we're really excited. We're continuing the story...I'm really excited to be making it, to get our cast back together, to get new people involved, and we're really excited about it."
"What I'm excited about is I feel like we're doing something that absolutely continues where the story came from but is something that I hope people are going to be really surprised by," Reeves concluded.
In a separate interview, he was asked directly why The Batman 2 has been delayed and replied, "Because we're still finishing the script and there have been so many things going on. This next year is about getting into production and getting the movie going."
So, now might be a good time to cut Reeves some slack and allow him to get on with bringing Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight back to the big screen. The good news is that shooting is still scheduled for this year and if the sequel has a lengthy post-production window, it could mean we're getting a VFX-heavy villain like Mr. Freeze.
"The only reason for the delay is there isn’t a full script (those of you who follow me here probably know that already)," DC Studios boss James Gunn said shortly after the news broke. "Matt is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write."
"Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films," he noted. "To be fair, a 5 year gap or more is fairly common in sequels. 7 years between Alien and Aliens. 14 years between Incredibles. 7 years between the first two Terminators. 13 years between Avatars. 36 years between Top Guns. And, of course, 6 years between Guardians Vol 2 and Vol 3."
The Batman 2 will be released in theaters on October 1, 2027.