Coronavirus Just Shut Down The Batman
The Batman has met his newest nemesis: coronavirus.
According to reports by The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. has shut down all production on Matt Reeves' highly anticipated The Batman due to the ongoing and extraordinarily serious threat of COVID-19, a form of coronavirus that has spread across the world to create a global pandemic.
Lots of productions are pressing pause during these extremely uncertain times; with the spread of the disease growing more rapid by the day, and travel bans between the United States and Europe fully in effect, it makes sense that major studios would want to keep their casts and crews safe by waiting to see what the next steps are during this crisis.
With a scheduled release date of June 25, 2021, there's no concrete information just yet on whether or not The Batman will hit theaters as planned or at a later date, but as we wait out the spread of COVID-19, it looks like a lot of film and televisions projects will end up on the back burner. Here's why coronavirus has shut down The Batman, among other projects.
The coronavirus is Batman's biggest foe yet
Whether he's facing the Penguin, the Riddler, or the Joker, Batman always comes out on top; unfortunately, that's not true when it comes to COVID-19. On Saturday, THR published a statement from Warner Bros. brass which read, "Warner Bros. Pictures feature production of The Batman will hiatus filming for two weeks beginning today. The studio will continue to monitor the situation closely."
According to the outlet, this decision was made just as the production was set to move to Liverpool in the United Kingdom; in recent days, the U.K. has reported a serious rise in coronavirus cases, and England's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has just begun to restrict non-essential travel and close contact with those who might be infected.
The Batman has made headlines for much happier reasons in recent months, especially thanks to a series of exciting casting announcements. Beyond Robert Pattinson's starring role as the Caped Crusader, the film features Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as Riddler, Colin Farrell as The Penguin, Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Andy Serkis as Bruce Wayne's loyal butler Alfred, John Turturro as the vicious crime boss Carmine Falcone, and Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham's district attorney, Gil Colson.
However, it has become clear that fans may have to wait for the Batman reboot at least a little bit longer, as this delay might stretch further than two weeks. Only time will tell as to how long production on The Batman will be delayed, but judging by the delays the rest of Hollywood is facing, it could be quite some time before Pattinson can don his cowl once again.
Hollywood goes dark in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak
Hollywood is shuttering production on several projects in the wake of COVID-19; although the virus is pretty similar to the flu, it's also highly contagious and super dangerous to certain portions of the population, and in large groups of people, it can spread virtually unchecked. For that important reason, plenty of productions are pausing or shutting down entirely, which is pretty bad news for the entertainment industry.
Movie theaters across the world, including AMC's entire group of properties, are shutting down until further notice — but even before that step was taken, movies like No Time to Die (Daniel Craig's final Bond film) and Fast & Furious 9 were severely delayed, pushing their theatrical releases back by six months and a year, respectively. For other productions, including A Quiet Place Part II and the extraordinarily troubled New Mutants film — the latter of which has been delayed multiple times — there's no new release date as of yet. Other films and television projects, including Riverdale, Marvel's Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and reality shows that involve travel like Survivor and The Amazing Race are taking some time off until further notice.
In this uncertain and often unsettling time as the world grapples with COVID-19 and its international spread, it's understandable and responsible to shutter films and television projects until the virus can be contained in some way, but it's still a bad outcome for everyone from studios to actors to fans as people take to their homes to self-isolate. Hopefully, the outbreak will pass soon, but in the meantime, large swaths of Hollywood have gone dark.
We'll update you if The Batman's release date changes; in the meantime, be responsible and safe during this crisis.