A rumor recently started to swirl. And it was a DC Films rumor, so those stir up the nastiest reactions online. The impetus behind the rumor was BEYOND vague, but some outlets took it to suggest that Matt Reeves might be leaving the solo Batman movie that he's writing (possibly for Ben Affleck to star in). Let's get to Reeves' response, and then backfill the crazy way that we got to this point. Essentially, Reeves squashed the rumor that he's leaving Batman, Tweeting:
Now, what prompted Matt Reeves to have to Tweet just such a thing? This all started when YouTube talk-show host John Campea stated that he knew of a DCEU rumor, but he wasn't going to share what it was. His reasoning for refusing to share the rumor was that every time he brings up DC news, he gets hammered online by the faithful DCEU fanatics. Why Campea mentioned it at all, knowing he wasn't going to share it, remains a mystery.
But from that vague tease, The Wrap actually jumped ahead and pretended that John Campea was potentially talking about Matt Reeves leaving Batman. The way Campea sold it, he made it sound like the DC fans were going to lose their minds when they heard this rumor... and he claims that no matter what, this news that he claims to know is going to get out. So The Wrap -- for real -- made the leap to say that the story is about Reeves leaving Batman. And then they debunked THAT rumor. The one that they started.
Still with me?
All of this is to say that whatever rumor John Campea brought up in the first place -- whether there's even a rumor at all -- is not about Matt Reeves leaving the solo Batman movie. His tweet has a Bat, and a thumbs up, which we take to mean that he's still writing his script at the moment, and plans to direct. Reeves officially is done with the Planet of the Apes franchise, having concluded War for the Planet of the Apes, and he does not have an announced project on this slate. This means that his next movie easily COULD be the Batman movie... though right now, that movie doesn't have an official release date.
So what IS on the radar for DC? They have three movies that have release dates attached to them. James Wan's Aquaman is the next DC film to hit theaters, which will follow Jason Momoa further into the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. It opens on December 21. After that, we have Shazam!, currently in production and aiming for an April 5, 2019 release. And the studio reportedly is looking into casting for Wonder Woman 2, which wants to be in theaters on November 1, 2019.
This means the Batman movie, at the earliest, will be in theaters in 2020. And for now, Matt Reeves will be involved.
