‘The Batman’ Gets Pushed Back For a Second Time
When Dune was pushed back from December of 2020 to October 1, 2021, that meant it was the start of the story, not the end of it — because Dune’s distributor, Warner Bros, already had another enormous movie scheduled for release on October 1 of next year. That would be The Batman, Matt Reeves’ reinvention of the Dark Knight starting Robert Pattinson as a young Bruce Wayne at the beginning of his crimefighting career. Surely they would not attempt to release to huge films on the same day? One would have to move.
That one would be The Batman. Word breaks now that The Batman is getting bumped back March of 2022. This is the second time the film has been delayed thus far; it was originally scheduled to debut in June of 2021 but that became impossible when production shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, the film has encountered more problems, including Pattinson contracting Covid-19, prompting another shut down for a time.
Along with The Batman’s delay, Warners announced several other changes of release dates to their upcoming superhero slate. The Flash will now open in theaters on November 4, 2022 instead of June 3, 2022. Shazam 2 was going to open on November 4, 2022; now it premieres on June 2, 2023. And Black Adam, which was going to open for Christmas in 2021, is now off the release calendar entirely.
In the grand scheme of things, six more months isn’t that big of a deal, and it gives Reeves more time to finish things to his satisfaction. This, of course, assumes there are no additional delays, the virus is brought under control, and theaters are still in business in the spring of 2022. Some pretty big ifs! Here’s what the Warner Bros. release calendar looks like after all the moves:
Gallery — More New Images From The Batman: