Back in August, we got word that The Batman director Matt Reeves had finally finished the script for his long-awaited sequel, which he penned alongside co-writer Mattson Tomlin.
The news came in the midst of concerns that the movie, which does appear to be officially titled The Batman - Part II for the time being, may have been hit with another significant delay, with speculation continuing to mount that DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran might be planning to either introduce a brand-new take on The Dark Knight in The Brave and The Bold, or fold Robert Pattinson's BatVerse take on the iconic hero into the DCU.
Gunn remains adamant that the plan is still to forge ahead with another actor for the DCU's Caped Crusader, but we are going to see at least one more instalment in Reeves' "Epic Crime Saga" as well. The movie officially entered the pre-production phase over the summer, and cameras are scheduled to begin rolling early next year.
The movie is expected to film at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, Glasgow and Liverpool at some point in January, and we may now know who Reeves has enlisted to shoot his lsequel.
According to Jeff Sneider, Veteran cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, who won an Oscar for shooting David Fincher’s Mank, has been tapped to serve as the DP. Messerschmidt also shot Fincher's The Killer, as well as episodes of Mindhunter. He is currently working with Quentin Tarantino on The Adventures of Cliff Booth.
UPDATE: Reeves has now confirmed the report.
Plot details are still under wraps, but Reeves did drop a few hints about the villain Batman will be facing off against in the movie, describing the mysterious antagonist as someone who has "never really been done in a movie before." The most popular theory seems to be Tommy Elliot, but there are a number of characters who could fit the bill.
“Because of what the first movie was and what [The Batman: Part 2] is, which is so much a detective story, the idea of trying to protect the secrets of the movie is super important because it’s a mystery. That would be an extra level of heartbreak if that part of it started getting out. You wanna keep the surprise so the fans... can have the fun experience that I always love going to the movies, which was to go and be surprised,” the filmmaker said in a recent interview.
In addition to The Penguin star Colin Farrell and several others (presumably more than 5 people at this stage), Robert Pattinson has read the script - which was delivered to him in a highly secure envelope that required a separate code to open - and was said to be very happy with the story, which will seemingly take the iconic DC Comics hero in a direction we have not seen before. “
"He’s Batman, so if he doesn’t like it, not good. So, I was super excited because I thought that he really would [like it] because the things that it does for his character, for Batman, and for [Bruce Wayne] has never been done before in this way. And I had a feeling he would respond in this way, the fact that he did was incredibly encouraging,” Reeves added.
The Batman - Part II is set to hit theaters on October 1, 2027.