The box office landscape was thrown into major question when all major film productions around the world were put on hold. Director Matt Reeves’ hotly anticipated DC reboot The Batman is one of those projects audiences have been most hopeful to see go back into production, in order to meet its newly shifted 2021 release date. Well, it looks like it might finally be happening, as the Robert Pattinson starring film is one of several to be approved to go back to work by the UK government.
The Guardian has reported that The Batman, as well as the third Fantastic Beasts installment, have met the country’s new safety rules intended to protect cast and crew from COVID-19. Word is that with the approval of such measures, there’s hope that as early as July major filming operations in the UK will be able to get back to work.
This comes after production on The Batman, which had only been running since the beginning of the year, was shut down by the coronavirus crisis. During this pause in production Reeves hasn’t been editing the film, but has been reviewing the dailies of footage already shot. Roughly a quarter of the film has been shot, with The Batman already bumped from its previous release date of June 25, 2021 to allow for the gap in filming.
It’s probably the best news that the cast and crew of the ambitious new DC Comics reboot have gotten in some time. And while the delays have given the folks behind The Batman a chance to focus up before jumping back in, there has also been some sadness as a crew member on the film was one of the many victims that COVID-19 has claimed amidst the current crisis.
As a loss such as the one Matt Reeves and his cast and crew have suffered is something that needs to be properly remembered, it could also be said that those getting back to work on The Batman will be honoring the memory of their fallen crewmember once things pick up again.
While this major health emergency has put the world on hold for now, it hasn’t cancelled everything. Normalcy is something everyone strives for right now, and getting The Batman back on its production schedule is something that will offer a sliver of hope to many.
Be it the investors or government officials that want to get back to work, or the audiences that look forward to seeing the Caped Crusader of Gotham City back on the big screen, Robert Pattinson’s Batman already feels like he’s living up to the mantle of the DC Comics heavyweight hero. Not only is he the hero the cinemas deserve, but he's also the hero we'll need in the months to come.
Current events may be bleak, but soon The Batman will return to give the world the escape it will surely need. The film is currently scheduled to take flight in theaters on October 1, 2021; and should this change at all, you can be sure that CinemaBlend will report those updates as they occur.
