Superhero project rumors can come from all different places, and a new one making the rounds online from Production Weekly (picked up by various geek circles and websites over the week) claimed that Matt Reeves (“The Batman,” “The Penguin”) was producing a “Mr. Freeze” film. Days later, the studio revealed that the rumor wasn’t true, and over the weekend was officially debunked by DC Studios‘ James Gunn.
The studio executive chimed in on the DC project rumor on threads where he admittedly liked the idea of a Freeze project but would go on to say, “There’s no truth to it at all.” Gunn has been one of the more vocal studio presences online and goes out of his way to interact with fans on social media. That includes responding to and debunking/confirming the various rumors about his projects at DC Studios.
“It’s not a bad idea, so I wouldn’t say never, but no, there’s no truth to it at all,” Gunn said in response to the rumbling on Threads (See below).
There is a possibility that the upcoming Bane/Deathstroke film (“Suicide Squad 3”?) in development at DC Studios (first reported by THR last week) could have led to the incorrect entry in Production Weekly, but I think it’s more a case of folks needing to exercise caution with reposting their information which can be fabricated or at best, very inaccurate.
Fans have been curious to see if Reeves would attempt to use Freeze in his more grounded take on Gotham City with “The Batman” films led by Robert Pattison, and that has led to speculation about him potentially showing up in the upcoming sequel. Although it has mostly come off as wishful thinking from the fan community rather than something that is 100% going to happen.
I’m sure we’ll end up seeing Mr. Freeze at some point, but this rumor seems to be dead for the time being, and we don’t exactly know when/where the Batman rogue will make his grand return to live-action.
This month sees the production start on the high-profile series The Penguin, which will be an eight-episode run on HBO Max and focuses on Oscar-nominee Colin Farrell‘s standout villain, Oz, from Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Reeves will produce the series and will follow the power-vacuum in Gotham after Carmine Falcone is removed from his leadership position after his death with The Penguin making his big move to oversee Gotham’s criminal underworld.
It looks like Farrell is going to have an interesting of collection of actors surrounding him. Deadline states that a string of actors have joined the project such as Michael Kelly (House of Cards, Jack Ryan), Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse), and Deirdre O’Connell (Outer Range).
Variety also reports that Rhenzy Feliz has nabbed a lead role in the streaming series spinoff. Actress Cristin Milioti (Palm Springs, Black Mirror) was previously the first big addition to the show.
The Batman Part II is set for release on October 3, 2025 and there is an expectation the spinoff project will have a direct impact on the villain lineup in the second pic. It’ll be curious to see if we’ll actually see other Batman rogues make their debut on The Penguin before making their way onto the big screen.
DC Studios recently announced their first big slate lineup this week as newly minted co-CEO James Gunn revealed to the world that they would making a new string of film and television projects within the DCU and other things set outside of the DCU being branded as “Elseworlds” like Matt Reeves‘ The Batman being part of that group alongside the Joker sequel.
The biggest sign of confidence for Reeves’ Gotham saga is that we’re going to see multitide of spinoffs and sequels. With the latter getting a title and release date as DC Studios announced that The Batman Part II will be heading back to theaters on October 3, 2025 and should reassure fans that had been worried that Reeves’ vision for follow-ups could have been tainted with DC Studios meddling or trying to merge that version of Batman into their DCU films. Thankfully, they cleared that up real quick by announcing a new Batman project with The Brave & The Bold, focusing on Bruce Wayne and his son Damian Wayne as the new version of Robin.
That’s not all the Batman news going this week. Towards the end of the month, we’ll see the start of production of The Penguin spinoff series at HBO Max and star Colin Farrell has confirmed to Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast that they aiming to shoot eight episodes.
“It’s going to be an eight-part thing,” Farrell said on the podcast. “Around Oz’s rise to power, filling that power vacuum created when Falcone was killed. Matt’s idea was to have the Penguin show begin about a week after the end of the Batman film. And if it works, if the trajectory is interesting, and the audience goes for it, and we do our jobs right, the second Penguin feature will pick up where the HBO show will end.”
We have to assume that Farrell will also be returning for The Batman Part II, given the series is expected to show his rise to become a major crime figure in Gotham by the time the sequel is released in 2025.
Director and co-writer Matt Reeves has taken to Twitter to give a big update on the production of The Batman, as he’s declared Saturday is the last day of principal photography. The film is part one of a new Batman trilogy from Reeves with Robert Pattinson in the role of Bruce Wayne and according to DC Films takes place in Earth 2.
Filming on the DC Comics reboot hasn’t been as smooth as the studio would have liked as they originally had to halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then had to pause again after resuming due to Robert Pattinson testing positive.
The Flash is the next big film to shoot on the Warner Bros. stages in Watford, England. Funny enough, that superhero flick is expected to include two Batman actors with both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck set to appear.
The Batman’s teaser trailer from the summer seemed to make a huge impression given the limited footage they had to work with and has become one of the most anticipated films from the studio after some initial hesitation from fans with the casting news of Robert Pattinson playing Batman for the foreseeable future.
Warner Bros. has given The Batman a release date of March 4th, 2022.
THE BATMAN – 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.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Paramount Pictures and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot is looking to make a true sequel to Matt Reeves’ 2008 film Cloverfield with Joe Barton being tapped to write the film’s script. Adding that the film won’t be found footage like the original.
Hopefully, the sequel has longer runtime.
Barton was recently hired to showrun and write the new HBO Max series Gotham PD, the DC Comics show would be a prequel to the upcoming The Batman movie, taking place within the first year of Bruce Wayne’s crime fighting. Joe replacing Terence Winter, who exited the project over “creative differences.”
Other Bad Robot films such as 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox had previously taken place within the same cinematic universe but were done retroactively as a marketing gimmick as they weren’t originally conceived as direct sequels.
Plot details aren’t mentioned in the report for the new film and given Bad Robot’s history they’ll keep those hidden in the mystery box for some time.
CLOVERFIELD – As a group of New Yorkers (Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman) enjoy a going-away party, little do they know that they will soon face the most terrifying night of their lives. A creature the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Using a handheld video camera, the friends record their struggle to survive as New York crumbles around them.
It was announced by WarnerMedia, via press release circulated to trades such as Deadline, that they’ve just hired Joe Barton to become the new showrunner on their Gotham PD-centric series on HBO Max that is produced by The Batman director Matt Reeves, taking place years prior to the events of the upcoming film starring Robert Pattinson.
Barton replaces Boardwalk Empire‘s Terence Winter, who had exited over creative differences and is no stranger to gritty underbellies of crime as he was creator of the Yakuza series Giri/Haji.
Here is what Matt Reeves had to say about the DC Comics series when promoting it over the summer at DC FanDome.
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 was the original press release for the project before Winter’s exit.
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.
The Batman is reportedly still shooting in the United Kingdom despite new lockdown restrictions due to a new variant of COVID-19 that is rapidly spreading there. Warner Bros. had pushed the film’s release date from October 1st, 2021 to Mach 4th, 2022 because of previous production delays. Pattinson himself had tested positive for the virus at one point.
Reeves has previously stated this would be the first in a new trilogy with the film introducing us to Batman’s rogues gallery which will include The Riddler, Catwoman, Carmine Falcone, and The Penguin.
This version of Batman according to DC Films takes place within Earth 2 and the show takes place during Bruce Wayne’s first year operating as the Caped Crusader.
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.
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.”
Tonight, Warner Bros. has confirmed Colldier’s scoop that Denis Villeneuve’s Dune will indeed be taking The Batman’s current release date of October 1st, 2021 as the DC comics movie has been officially moved to March 4th, 2022.
There was some shuffling of the other DC Comics films too.
They’ve also pulled Black Adam from the schedule entirely as it had been set for release on December 22nd, 2021, moved The Flash to November 4th, 2022, and the Shazam! sequel heads to June 3rd, 2023.
Wonder Woman 1984 is still seemingly set for Christmas Day, but that will likely get delayed as well in the coming days.
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.
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.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that screenwriter Mattson Tomlin will be making his feature film directorial debut with an original science fiction thriller titled Mother/ Android for Miramax that has Chloe Grace Mortez attached to star as lead character Georgia.
Tomlin also penned the film.
Chloe Grace Moretz is set to star in the Miramax project as Georgia who, with her boyfriend Sam, goes on a treacherous journey to escape their country, which is caught in an unexpected war with artificial intelligence. Days away from the arrival of their first child, the couple must face No Man’s Land— a stronghold of the android uprising, in hopes of reaching safety before giving birth.
Matt Reeves, who directed Chloe in the horror remake Let Me In and co-wrote The Batman with Tomlin will be producing the project via his production company 6th & Idaho.
Tomlin was behind the recent Netflix film Project Power and is also currently working on a Mega Man film.
The young actress had been previously rumored for the lead role in Len Wiseman’s John Wick spinoff Ballerina but has yet to be confirmed.
THE RONIN 