Tag: Batman

Posted on in Television News

‘The Batman’ Spinoff Series At HBO Max Loses Showrunner Terence Winter Over Creative Differences

The Gotham PD series aka Gotham Central at HBO Max from Matt Reeves has reportedly lost writer and showrunner Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, Sopranos) according to The Hollywood Reporter. Terence Winter is apparently exiting the DC Comics series due to creative differences with Matt Reeves and producers.

The Boardwalk Empire creator, who was poised to write and serve as showrunner on Matt Reeves’ TV spinoff of The Batman has departed the HBO Max series. Sources say creative differences are to blame for the split as Winter’s vision for the drama did not match what Reeves and other producers had in mind. A search is under way for a new showrunner for the untitled drama.

Winter is keeping busy developing a new mob series for HBO and an anthology series titled Dail M For Murder.

The report doesn’t mention who will be replacing him as showrunner.

Gotham Central isn’t the only DC Comics series in the works at HBO Max as James Gunn is expected to begin shooting Peacemaker early next year and there is also a Green Lantern show featuring multiple lanterns is also coming together.

Matt Reeves is currently busy with the production of The Batman in the United Kingdom.

Here is what Matt had to say about the series at DC FanDome back in August.

REEVES: “The idea of this story was a story in which Gotham, which has this depth of corruption, and the idea that we could do a series that is going deeper into an aspect of it, which in this case is the corrupt police department, the corrupt inner workings of the city. And the way we’re gonna do this series. Terence Winter is just an incredible writer, so the idea that we got him to do this, just is literally a dream. The idea is, we go back to year one, and year one is the beginning of the first emergence, the first appearance of this masked vigilante that starts to unsettle the city, and you start to see the story through the POV of these corrupt cops, and one in particular. And the story is actually a battle for his soul.”

“He’s a cop over generations and the history of corruption in Gotham is enormous and goes back many years, and the story is like, as you realize that there’s this myth-building in the background, you’re actually in a new place where you’ve never seen these characters before – some of them we’ll touch on that you may have seen in the comics, but others are totally new. Then you can go down an avenue and go into detail that you couldn’t do in a movie, and to go into these rich places and meet entirely new characters that Terence is going to create.”

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

New Liverpool Set Photos From ‘The Batman’ Include Colin Farrell’s Penguin and More Evidence That The Film Is Inspired By ‘Batman: The Long Halloween’

Filming on The Batman has resumed in Liverpool, England after Robert Pattinson’s positive COVID-19 test and brand new set photos have made their way online, which seems to reveal exterior shots for a funeral scene. 

In the new batch of set pics, we get images of Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne, Paul Dano’s Edward Nash aka The Riddler, Barry Keoghan as Officer Stanley Merkel, and new shots of Colin Farrell in his Penguin makeup. 

One of the set photos included Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle standing/walking with John Turturro’s Gotham mafia boss Carmine Falcone. This image might suggest Selina could be the daughter of Carmine in The Batman, like in Batman: The Long Halloween, either legitimately or illegitimately in this version. 

You can check out those images here. 

There had already been hints to the film taking cues from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Batman: The Long Halloween with what seems to be a serial killer plot featuring the Riddler murdering people and in the teaser trailer leaves a Halloween card as a clue for Batman. Many fans had jumped to the conclusion that the Halloween card in the trailer was directly related to the villainous group called The Court of Owls, but in reality was more likely a nod to The Long Halloween given all the other elements we’re starting to see from it. 

The Batman has been recently delayed from a release date of October 1st, 2021 to March 4th, 2022 as Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction fantasy epic Dune has landed that October spot next year. 

The film takes place around two years into Bruce Wayne’s time as Batman in Gotham City and the HBO Max series focused on the Gotham Police Department will take place in Year One. 

SOURCE: JUST JARED & GETTY IMAGES

Posted on in Film News

‘The Batman’ Resumes Production In UK – Unknown If Robert Pattinson Has Returned To Work

After various British outlets have reported that The Batman has resumed production on The Batman, Deadline claims they have confirmation from Warner Bros. this indeed correct but couldn’t get any comments about Robert Pattinson’s health status and if he’s returned to the set after testing positive for COVID-19.

Warner Bros has confirmed that The Batman is back up and running. This comes two weeks after the production shut down after star Robert Pattinson tested positive for COVID-19. No word yet if Pattinson is back on set at Warner Bros Leavesden as the studio doesn’t comment on staffers’ personal status.

Hopefully, Warner Bros. will try to keep cast and crew safe as the United Kingdom is experiencing a rise of new COVID-19 cases and has seen a return of various restrictions, which could easily lead to another shutdown.

From Warner Bros. Pictures comes “The Batman,” with director Matt Reeves (the “Planet of the Apes” films) at the helm and with Robert Pattinson (“Tenet,” “The Lighthouse,” “Good Time”) starring as Gotham City’s vigilante detective, Batman, and billionaire Bruce Wayne.

Also in the star-studded ensemble as Gotham’s famous and infamous cast of characters are Zoë Kravitz (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”) as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano (“Love & Mercy,” “12 Years a Slave”) as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright (the “Hunger Games” films) as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro (the “Transformers” films) as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard (“The Magnificent Seven,” “Black Mass”) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Barry Keoghan (“Dunkirk”) as Officer Stanley Merkel; Jayme Lawson (“Farewell Amor”) as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; with Andy Serkis (the “Planet of the Apes” films, “Black Panther”) as Alfred; and Colin Farrell (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Dumbo”) as Oswald Cobblepot.

Warner Bros. had given the film a release date of October 1st, 2021.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Television News

DC FANDOME: Matt Reeves Says His ‘Gotham PD’ Series Takes Place During Batman’s Year One

Back in July, it was announced HBO Max would be developing a series spinoff of Matt Reeves’ The Batman focusing on the Gotham City Police Department with writer and executive producer Terence Winter on board. Winter’s credits include The Sopranos, Wolf of Wall Street, and Boardwalk Empire. 

Here is that official press release. 

HBO Max announced today that it has given a series commitment to an original DC drama set in the Gotham City police department from The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves, Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter, The Batman producer Dylan Clark, and Warner Bros. Television. The groundbreaking television series to be written by Winter is set in the world Reeves is creating for The Batman feature film and will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, ultimately launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham. This marks the first television project for Reeves under his recently announced overall deal with the Warner Bros. Television Group.

Matt revealed a small detail about the series during DC FanDome yesterday stating the show takes place during Batman’s first year as the film is set in his second year. 

REEVES: “The idea of this story was a story in which Gotham, which has this depth of corruption, and the idea that we could do a series that is going deeper into an aspect of it, which in this case is the corrupt police department, the corrupt inner workings of the city. And the way we’re gonna do this series. Terence Winter is just an incredible writer, so the idea that we got him to do this, just is literally a dream. The idea is, we go back to year one, and year one is the beginning of the first emergence, the first appearance of this masked vigilante that starts to unsettle the city, and you start to see the story through the POV of these corrupt cops, and one in particular. And the story is actually a battle for his soul.”

“He’s a cop over generations and the history of corruption in Gotham is enormous and goes back many years, and the story is like, as you realize that there’s this myth-building in the background, you’re actually in a new place where you’ve never seen these characters before – some of them we’ll touch on that you may have seen in the comics, but others are totally new. Then you can go down an avenue and go into detail that you couldn’t do in a movie, and to go into these rich places and meet entirely new characters that Terence is going to create.”

This means there is a strong chance that cast members such as Jeffrey Wright (Jim Gordon) and newly announced addition Barry Keoghan (Officer Stanley Merkel) could have reoccurring roles in the HBO Max show.

Teaser footage from The Batman establishes a much more grounded take on the caped crusader that explains why someone like Winter would get involved with a show set within a comic book universe. Reeves also talked about how much corruption is in Gotham City that will be explored in The Batman taking cues from the 1970s thriller Chinatown. 

The Batman will be released on October 1st, 2021. 

SOURCE: DC FANDOME

Posted on in Film News

DC FANDOME: First Teaser Trailer For ‘The Batman’ Drops – Focuses On A String of Murders and Corruption In Gotham

A first teaser trailer was released for Matt Reeves’ The Batman.

Warner Bros. also released these three images just before the panel.

The cast led by Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne aka Batman also includes Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano as Edward Nashton aka The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as mayoral candidate Bella Reál, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin.

Filming is expected to resume next month at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, England.

The Batman is set to be released on October 1st, 2021.

SOURCE: DC FANDOME

Posted on in Film News

DC FANDOME: First Concept Artwork From ‘The Flash’ Features Michael Keaton’s Batman and New Costume

There wasn’t much in the DC FanDome panel but they did reveal some official concept artwork that includes Michael Keaton’s Batman.

Check it out below!

Director Andy Muschietti recently confirmed to Vanity Fair that Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck are officially reprising their roles of Bruce Wayne aka Batman in the film with Keaton said to be taking a much larger role.

It’s also said that Keaton’s Bruce Wayne could be carried over to other DC Comics projects, all signs are pointing towards the Batgirl movie.

The film is indeed a version of Flashpoint with screenwriter Christina Hodson tackling the latest version of the script. Hodson previously working on Bumblebee, Birds of Prey, and the upcoming solo Batgirl film.

The Flash is set for release on June 2nd, 2022.

SOURCE: DC FANDOME

Posted on in Film News

Ben Affleck Reportedly Reprising Batman Role For ‘The Flash’

Vanity Fair reports that actor Ben Affleck will be returning as Batman for the upcoming Flash film as he agreed to to join the film’s cast this week.

Director Andy Muschietti confirmed the news and gave the following quote.

MUSCHIETTI: “He’s a very substantial part of the emotional impact of the movie. The interaction and relationship between Barry and Affleck’s Wayne will bring an emotional level that we haven’t seen before. It’s Barry’s movie, it’s Barry’s story, but their characters are more related than we think. They both lost their mothers to murder, and that’s one of the emotional vessels of the movie. That’s where the Affleck Batman kicks in.”

They also add that Michael Keaton is still part of of the film in a “substantial role”.

Affleck left the role as the solo Batman film changed over to Matt Reeves and new actor Robert Pattinson.

It’ll be interesting to see how they tackle two on-screen Batmans.

SOURCE: VANITY FAIR

Posted on in Television News

‘The Batman’ TV Series Spinoff Coming To HBO Max From ‘Sopranos’ and ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Writer Terence Winter

Today, it was announced by WarnerMedia and HBO Max that they’ll be developing another DC Comics series for their new streaming platform. This will be the first live-action series to be directly connected to the feature films as the series will be set in the universe of Matt Reeves’ The Batman focusing on the Gotham Police Department. 

They’ve given the series a commitment and it will be written by Terence Winter. Winter is a seasoned veteran at HBO thanks to his fantastic crime series such as Sopranos and the prohibition era Boardwalk Empire produced by Martin Scorsese. He also wrote the script for Martin’s excellent Wolf of Wall Street. 

Terence’s involvement would suggest the series would likely focus on the seedy and corrupt nature of the police in Gotham City. It will also likely be much more grounded than the previous Jim Gordon series Gotham. 

The Batman director and co-writer Matt Reeves will also be directly involved as the show’s producer via his production company 6th & Idaho. 

Here is the official press release. 

HBO Max announced today that it has given a series commitment to an original DC drama set in the Gotham City police department from The Batman filmmaker Matt Reeves, Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter, The Batman producer Dylan Clark, and Warner Bros. Television. The groundbreaking television series to be written by Winter is set in the world Reeves is creating for The Batman feature film and will build upon the motion picture’s examination of the anatomy of corruption in Gotham City, ultimately launching a new Batman universe across multiple platforms. The series provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend the world established in the movie and further explore the myriad of compelling and complex characters of Gotham. This marks the first television project for Reeves under his recently announced overall deal with the Warner Bros. Television Group.

Reeves’ 6th & Idaho production company will produce the series in association with Warner Bros. Television. Reeves and Emmy® winner/Oscar® nominee Winter (The Sopranos, The Wolf of Wall Street) will executive produce with Clark (Bird Box, Rise, Dawn, and War for Planet of the Apes). The drama, which is based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, will also be executive produced by 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) and Adam Kassan (Tales from the Loop); Rafi Crohn (Tales from the Loop) will co-executive produce. Warner Bros. International Television Distribution will distribute the series globally.

Reeves is currently at the helm of Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Batman, which will be released in October 2021. He previously co-wrote and directed War for the Planet of the Apes, directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, wrote and directed Let Me In, and directed Cloverfield, among other films. Recent 6th & Idaho television series include Amazon Prime Video’s Tales from the Loop, starring Rebecca Hall and Jonathan Pryce; the upcoming Netflix drama Away, starring Hilary Swank; and FOX’s The Passage. Reeves previously co-created (with J.J. Abrams) and executive produced the hit series Felicity, directing the pilot and several additional episodes.

Winter was nominated for 12 Emmy® Awards and won four during his tenure on the landmark HBO drama series The Sopranos, twice for Outstanding Drama Series and twice for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. He created the HBO drama Boardwalk Empire, which ran for five seasons and earned Winter two additional Outstanding Drama Series Emmy® nominations. He was nominated for an adapted screenplay Academy Award® for writing the Best Picture–nominated film The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese, who had previously helmed the Boardwalk Empire pilot. He and Scorsese subsequently co-created (with Mick Jagger and Rich Cohen) the HBO drama Vinyl.

We’ll have to wait and see if we’ll end up getting Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon or John Turturro’s mob boss Carmine Falcone in the show, but there is a good shot it’ll happen. 

It’s unknown when we’ll ultimately see the show come together and this isn’t the only DC Comics series coming to HBO Max, they’re also working on bringing Green Lantern to life as well. 

HBO recently cracked the comic book series code with Damon Lindelof’s excellent Watchmen and has seemingly set a high bar of quality for these other shows. I’m hopeful that having Terence Winter involved that they’ll be able to do something a little more than simply recreating a regular police procedural. 

This announcement is kind of ballsy as there have been prominent protests rallying against police brutality over the last couple of months. DC Comics or not, they’ll likely be getting an earful for pushing forward with this when people are fed-up with police in entertainment media. 

SOURCE: HBO MAX

Posted on in Film News

Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne May Also Join ‘Batgirl’ Movie – Could Become DC’s Nick Fury

It sounds like Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne will be replacing Ben Affleck in the DC Comics Cinematic/Expanded Universe as The Hollywood Reporter is adding in their version of the Flash news that he is expected to also possibly join the Batgirl film among other films.

But wait, there’s more. If a deal makes, Keaton wouldn’t just return for Flash but possibly for several other DC-oriented film projects. Sources tell THR that the role being envisioned for the veteran actor is akin to the role played by Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, something of a mentor or guide or even string puller. Batgirl is one the projects in development that could fall under that win.

This sort of sounds like they’re going to do Batman Beyond with a female protege instead, which sounds kind of badass to me.

However, this seems to be only in the early stages and fans need to be open to the idea this won’t come together.

If Keaton is going to become the main version of Bruce Wayne this would suggest that Robert Pattinson’s Batman might be taking place outside of the Expanded Universe, similar to how the Christopher Nolan films were their own thing.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

Michael Keaton Reportedly In Early Talks To Reprise Bruce Wayne/Batman Role In ‘The Flash’ Movie

The Wrap is reporting that Michael Keaton is in very early talks to join the upcoming Flash movie starring Ezra Miller, reprising his role of Bruce Wayne aka Batman. This would establish the film will be playing with it’s own Multiverse and could help cement previous expectations that they’ll attempt a version of Flashpoint featuring alternative versions of the DC superheroes.

They are unaware how large or small the part will be.

Keaton last played Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns from 1992.

Andy Muschietti (IT, IT: Chapter Two) was recently hired to direct.

However, when production will begin is a little unknown as Miller is expected to shoot Fantastic Beasts 3. But it’s looking like sometime in 2021 is looking good.

A troubling video of the Flash actor was making the rounds online recently of himself choking a woman and throwing her to the ground, this still hasn’t been addressed by either Warner Bros. or Ezra Miller.

SOURCE: THE WRAP