The new Batman movie has been delayed for a second time, with its release date being moved back to 2022.
The Robert Pattinson-starring film will now come out March 4th, 2022. It was originally intended to hit cinemas on July 25th 2021, but was then moved back to October 2021.
The change comest amongst another major reshuffle in release dates from Warner Bros. The adaptation of sci-fi classic Dune, which was meant to come out at the end of 2020, has been moved back nearly a year until October 1st, 2021 – the date when The Batman was supposed to be released.
The Flash was put back from June 2022 to November 2022, Shazam! 2 has gone from November 2022 to June 2023, and Black Adam starring The Rock has been taken off the schedule.
The fourth Matrix film however has been moved forward from April 2022 to December 2021.
The Batman began in production in the UK in January, but was paused in Match due to the coronavirus pandemic. Production resumed in September, but was quickly stopped again after Robert Pattinson tested positive for COVID. Filming restarted again on September 17th.
Robert Pattinson takes up the role of the Dark Knight in The Batman, with Paul Dano playing The Riddler, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Andy Serkis as Alfred, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon and Colin Farrell as The Penguin.
In August, DC confirmed that The Batman is a stand-alone movie that does not tie into last year’s Joker, or the other DCEU movies like Aquaman, Justice League and Suicide Squad.
President of DC Films Walter Hamada said that they are all just part of a “mulitverse”.
“What the multiverse means is we can tell these great stories where we can tell different stories,” Hamada explained.
“There’s one earth where have Gal Gadot and Ezra Miller [as Wonder Woman and The Flash]… and another where we can have Year Two Batman… and then there’s Joker, which isn’t part of either continuity.”
“Matt Reeves can continue to build out his Gotham [in The Batman]. Those are things that we can do because we don’t have to worry about how that would impact Aquaman 2 or The Flash, because it’s all just part of the multiverse.”
“Our focus is telling great stories.”