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.
Variety is reporting that DC Films President Walter Hamada has re-upped with extension that will last through 2023. This means Hamada will be around long enough to execute a heap of projects for both the big screen and WarnerMedia’s domestic streaming service HBO Max that he’s been developing for the last couple of years.
There are plenty of upcoming feature film projects on the horizon including films expected to begin shooting this year such as The Flash, Black Adam, Shazam!: Fury of The Gods, and Aquaman2. James Gunn is also set to begin shooting his Peacemaker series starring John Cena this month in Vancouver, a mature spinoff series of The Suicide Squad exclusively or HBO Max.
Other things in the fire are Wonder Woman 3, Batgirl, Static Shock, The Trench, PlasticMan, a GreenLantern series at HBO Max, and development on a Supergirl movie before things stalled.
Hamada joined DC Films back in 2018 coming from New Line Cinema.
James Gunn‘s The Suicide Squad is expected to be the next big DC release on August 6th, 2021 as Matt Reeves‘ The Batman had been bumped from October 1st, 2021 to March 4th, 2022 giving the production a bit of breathing room as they attempting to complete filming during the pandemic as there is increased strain in the United Kingdom.
Over the summer there were huge waves made when it was reported that actor MichaelKeaton was going to reprise the Bruce Wayne/Batman role for Andy Muschietti‘s upcoming Flash movie, after previously playing the role in Tim Burton‘s Batman and Batman Returns.
Ben Affleck is also expected to appear in the film thanks to a Multiverse storyline allowing two Batman actors to appear on the big screen at once.
However, it’s starting to sound like Keaton is going to be the one continuing the role within the DCEU and Robert Pattinson playing his version from The Batman in Earth 2. This comes after an excerpt from a New York Times article from last month and a follow-up comment made by the reporter Brooks Barnes on Twitter clarifying he was talking about Michael Keaton, not Affleck being that second Batman.
To make all the story lines work, DC Films will introduce movie audiences to a comics concept known as the multiverse: parallel worlds where different versions of the same character exist simultaneously. Coming up, for instance, Warner Bros. will have two different film sagas involving Batman — played by two different actors — running at the same time.
The answer is the multiverse. Boiled down, it means that some characters (Wonder Woman as portrayed by Ms. Gadot, for instance) will continue their adventures on Earth 1, while new incarnations (Mr. Pattinson as “The Batman”) will populate Earth 2.
UPDATE: Barnes says that he doesn’t know Keaton’s fate beyond The Flash and also doesn’t dismiss the previous reporting that suggests Keaton will have bigger role beyond that film.
Been offline (moving apartments) and return to see this Michael Keaton craziness. I was referring to the *one film* that Keaton has been announced as being in, not a set of his own Batman films. If I had info on him beyond "The Flash," I would have obviously put it in my article
The inference is that Keaton could play a mentor version of Bruce Wayne in things like Christina Hodson’s Batgirl movie that might head to HBO Max and something else like a Batman Beyond live-action adaptation. Allowing other characters in the Batman franchise to take over the crime-fighting mantle be it Barbara Gordon, Terry McGinnis, Dick Grayson or others given Keaton’s advanced age.
The Hollywood Reporter essentially reporting this last year when first revealing Keaton was in talks with the studio.
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 into that category.
I also wouldn’t put it past DC Films to eventually make an authentic version of Frank Miller‘s The Dark Knight Returns having Michael Keaton in the lead role even if it was a standalone project within that particular version of Gotham, which would more than likely land a mature rating (something perfect for HBO Max audiences). This could allow them to do more mature stories without conflicting with Matt Reeves‘ Batman trilogy starring Robert Pattinson, while dark happens to be it’s own thing in the PG-13 realm. I’d even enjoy seeing a limited-series similar to HBO’s Watchmen.
The more interesting part will be if Keaton is expected to show up in other “Earth 1” movies moving forward that aren’t directly connected to Batman franchise characters or spinoffs.
There had been plenty of fan speculation that after walking away from the Batman role that Affleck would be jumping feet first into new projects because his appearance in TheFlash, leading to extremely unreliable rumors of future Batman projects with Ben attached in the role being in the works. The impression from the New York Times stuff is that the studio is more or less pivoting from Ben’s version of the DC Comics hero, which isn’t terribly surprising since this has been the narrative since his exit from the solo film.
We’ll likely get more official word from Warner Bros. and DC Films but its looking like Michael Keaton will be sticking around longer than we have original thought back in the summer.
Before Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s The Batman, there had been plans for Ben Affleck to co-write, star, and direct a solo Batman film. Creative differences and Affleck’s apparent frustration eventually led to him first exiting the project as director then later leaving the Bruce Wayne/Batman role altogether.
We don’t know a lot of about the unmade project but there had been confirmation from cinematographer Robert Richardson (Live By Night, Kill Bill, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Inglourious Basterds), who had been once attached to the Affleck film, that the film would involved the infamous Arkham Asylum.
RICHARDSON: “I wanted to shoot Batman with Ben [Affleck] cause that was the next film we had. There was a script, but not a loved script. There was a lot of work he was doing to it to change it.Well, he was going into the more insanity aspects.He was entering more into the Arkham, he’s going into where everyone was bad.“
Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello had been expected to reprise the Slade Wilson part for Ben’s Batman solo project allowing him to later get a meatier role than his small cameo in Justice League. While speaking with Yahoo Entertainment, Joe compared the purposed Affleck project to David Fincher’s underrated Michael Douglas thriller The Game and gave some details about the tone they were attempting to go for.
MANGANIELLO: “There were similarities to The Game…It was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce’s life from the inside out. It was this systemic thing: He killed everyone close to Bruce and destroyed his life to try and make him suffer because he felt that Bruce was responsible for something that happened to him…It was really cool, really dark and really hard. I was very excited for it.”
Joe confirmed his return to the Deathstroke role in Zack Snyder’s extended version of Justice League for HBO Max on social media, but remains to be seen if he’ll ever play the role again.
THE GAME (1997) – Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful banker who keeps mostly to himself. When his estranged brother Conrad (Sean Penn) returns on his birthday with an odd gift — participation in a personalized, real-life game — Nicholas reluctantly accepts. Initially harmless, the game grows increasingly personal, and Orton begins to fear for his life as he eludes agents from the mysterious game’s organizers. With no one left to trust and his money gone, Orton must find answers for himself.
The David Fincher connection isn’t shocking given that Ben Affleck had recently worked with the director on the thriller Gone Girl and Matt Reeves incarnation is essentially taking cues from Fincher’s entire movie library. I’ve spotted multiple homages or nods to Zodaic, Seven, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Panic Room, and even the aforementioned film The Game in the teaser trailer.
Matt’s movie seems to be taking a similar dark tone and might be picking up on what Affleck wanted to do.
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.”
The British government has announced via Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s national address over the weekend that after weeks of dire COVID-19 predictions for the region they’re finally moving back into a second national lockdown starting on November 5th and lifting it on December 2nd (could be extended if necessary).
JOHNSON: “Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day”
For comparison, UK COVID-19 cases have topped 1,000,000 including 47,717 deaths while the United States still hasn’t instituted a national lockdown with 9,280,000 million cases and over 231,000 COVID-19 deaths.
While dine-in bars/restaurants (can do takeout), cinemas, and other non-essentially businesses are closing film productions are expected to chug along like nothing is happening. I’m curious how long that will last if more productions publicly deal with new positive cases after both Jurassic World: Dominion and The Batman dealt with their own recently, the latter seeing star Robert Pattinson test positive for COVID-19.
This was later backed-up by Oliver Dowden, the government’s Culture Secretary on Twitter.
2/3
The changes mean people should WFH where possible
But where this is not possible, travel to a place of work will be permitted – e.g. this includes (but not exhaustive) elite sport played behind closed doors, film & tv production, telecoms workers
Things like schools, universities, construction sites and manufacturing businesses will stay open. However, that could change if they don’t see a decrease in numbers which might also lead to stricter measures and might lead to everything non-essentially getting closed including film shoots (filming in a bubble or not).
As previously stated, The Batman and Jurassic World: Dominion are filming in the United Kingdom alongside Fantastic Beasts 3. There is an expectation that the Moon Knight series, Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, and The Flash are prepping to shoot as well in the new year. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness was supposed to film at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England, however, trades have suggested that lead actor Benedict Cumberbatch is set to shoot his scenes in Atlanta for Spider-Man 3 before filming starts on the Strange sequel.
A lot can happen in a month and it doesn’t seem they’re going all-in with this new lockdown, which might return to bite them in the ass as did the slow response to rising new cases and delayed second lockdown when the government knew months ago that this was only getting worse in the UK. I’m worried these half-steps just won’t be enough and they’ll essentially announce a more rigorous lockdown in a couple weeks or in December, extending it throughout the holidays.
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.
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.
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.
According to a report from Collider, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movie will be released on Oct 1st, 2021 after been previously set for a date of December 18th by Warner Bros./Legendary.
The October date was originally meant for Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
This would mean that The Batman would be either given an earlier date or possibly delayed further. I have to imagine given how crowded 2021 has become and it hasn’t completed filming that pushing to a date in 2022 might be the right move. It’s possible it could nab the Black Adam’s release date of December 22nd, 2021 as that film is looking a delay after production was delayed due to Dwayne Johnson finishing up the Netflix film Red Notice.
I’m sure we’ll hear about a new release date very soon once Warner Bros. confirms that Dune is being bumped to 2021.
Wonder Woman 1984 moving to Christmas Day seemed to telegraph that they wanted to bump Dune to a later date, however, I wouldn’t be shocked if that film is pushed into 2021 as well.
Major American theater chain Regal has announced they will be closing their doors again, but some have speculated that the company might not reopen all (not enjoy evidence to support that). Then again, studios pulling their massive movies out of 2020 would give chains plenty of reason to close their doors again as No Time To Die, Black Widow, and now Dune haven’t left them with many options.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
The film stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Women”), Rebecca Ferguson (“Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”), Oscar Isaac (the “Star Wars” franchise) Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (“Milk,” “Avengers: Infinity War”), Stellan Skarsgård (HBO’s “Chernobyl,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron”), Dave Bautista (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “Avengers: Endgame”), Stephen McKinley Henderson (“Fences,” “Lady Bird”), Zendaya (“Spider-Man: Homecoming,” HBO’s “Euphoria”), David Dastmalchian (“Blade Runner 2049,” “The Dark Knight”), Chang Chen (“Mr. Long,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” Netflix’s “Sex Education”), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Assassin’s Creed”), with Jason Momoa (“Aquaman,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Skyfall”).
THE RONIN 