On one side of town, Marvel Studios is hosting a Facebook Live with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Pratt and Tom Holland from the set of Avengers: Infinity War. Not to be outdone, we're now learning that Warner Bros. has offered the recently-departed directors chair for its solo Batman movie to Planet of the Apes filmmaker Matt Reeves. Buckle in, kids.
Reeves was considered a frontrunner for the job in previous reports, though the fact that he has been working steadily for Fox on their Apes franchise led many to believe that he would decline. However, now Deadline is going on record to say that Reeves has been offered the job of directing a Batman movie starring Ben Affleck, and Variety is stating that he has accepted. The release date for the movie is still up in the air.
Here's the deal: if you can get Matt Reeves, you get Matt Reeves. The man is a genius (having been lucky enough to interview Reeves a few times, I mean this in every facet... not just filmmaking, but in overall knowledge of the industry, storytelling and craft). He broke on the scene as a J.J. Abrams protégé, helming the first-person POV found-footage groundbreaker, Cloverfield. But Reeves has been crushing it in the land of the Planet of the Apes, building on the rebooted world of Rise to helm Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, as well as this summer's wildly anticipated War for the Planet of the Apes.
Matt Reeves' name isn't one that you hear mentioned that often in the mix for open superhero gigs, but that doesn't mean that he hasn't been interested. The idea of him collaborating with an equally gifted director like Ben Affleck instantly makes me interested in a Batman movie that, truthfully, had forced me to lose a little faith in its potential. When Ben Affleck departed the project, The Batman (or whatever they end up calling it) was a cruise ship trudging along without a rudder. It was only a matter of time before the whole thing capsized.
For now, though, all we know (according to Deadline) is that Matt Reeves has been offered the gig, after the studio heavily considered him right after Ben Affleck stepped down. We can only hope that DC can lure Reeves into the fold... and then keep him. Up until now, DC and Warner haven't had much trouble hiring directors. They just can't keep them on the projects long enough to deliver a movie to the theaters... unless the filmmaker's name happens to be Zack Snyder.
