My Thoughts On This Latest Update on Matt Reeves' The Batman'

A huge news update on Matt Reeves' The Batman' dropped yesterday by Mario-Francisco Robles (@I_AM_MFR) and it sent the whole internet in an uproar, both positives and negatives were going around on social media, YouTube and Twitter, mostly. So I wanted to give my thoughts on this whole update. But, first, we are going to go back a bit, all the way to last year, too:

MATT REEVES ARRIVAL AS DIRECTOR OF THE BATMAN

On February 10, 2017, it was announced that Matt Reeves would be directing the solo Batman movie for the DC Extended Universe, then a week later, it was reported that Reeves has dropped out and THEN, two weeks later, he was back to being the director. What I believe and many people on social media, including Mario (@I_AM_MFR) on his podcast, have speculated is that the reason why he returned to being director for the solo movie is because he wanted FULL CREATIVE CONTROL, he will have a voice in what goes in the movie, what the script is going to be, who's producing etc. Warner Bros was playing hard to get with Reeves and WB caved. So you can tell that Reeves is not playing around. He's keeping EVERYTHING close to him and probably his team because he doesn't want anything to leak out.

His Batman movie will be more of noir-driven story, with heavy emphasis on the detective side of the Cape Crusader and the heart and mind of the character, which we haven't really seen much of in perhaps any Batman movie.

Then, on June 13, 2018, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Matt Reeves handed Warner Bros, the first 20 pages or the first act of the script over to them and it said to focus on a young caped crusader, not an experienced Batman (Ben Affleck). So this would imply that Ben Affleck is no longer going to star in Reeves Batman and instead they would have an actor who is committed to doing a trilogy of Batman and maybe have him be in the sequel of Justice League and making a cameo appearance in other DC Films. I just don't believe Ben Affleck wants to be Batman for the next 10 years or maybe more. And Reeves, he's not waiting for Affleck to make his mind up on whether or not he wants to continue being Batman. They basically want a Rober Downey Jr for their DCEU, RDJ has been Iron Man for almost over a decade, I think they want to have that for Batman.

An older Batman was a good idea but, will Affleck commit to the role for multiple years/movies.

The rumours that have been going around for months was if Jake Gyllenhaal will be the next Batman and it doesn't seem to be the case, as he is going to be the next villain in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Mysterio. Many people, myself included, was stoked if Gyllenhaal were to be Batman, he's one of the best actor working today. So we all knew that Reeves was looking at young actors to play the role but, now people are against this because they wanted Affleck to continue being Batman. It's so confusing.

THE NEW TAKE ON THE BATMAN

So, now that I covered a bit of the history of The Batman movie, now on to the main topic. It was speculated that Matt Reeves' Batman movie will have elements of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. And this is when the whole internet went bananas, people straight up thought that we would be getting an origin movie, seeing how Reeves is looking for a young actor, they just assume it would be an origin movie.

Regarded as the perfect origin story for Batman.

But, to me, I don't think it will be, what I believe Reeves is going to do is take elements of that book and apply it to his movie, because if you read the book, which is EXCELLENT by the way, you will see that it's more of a crime story and the artwork shows the noir/detective take in what Reeves wants to do. Maybe his Batman will be a little bit more experienced (3 to 5 years waging war on Gotham), instead of being a complete rookie. WE ALL DON'T KNOW, we can only guess.

The entire book feels like a crime/noir story.

Now I know a lot of people want Affleck to stay as Batman, I do, I think he's amazing but, I just don't see him wanting to be Batman for maybe 10 years, so why not get an actor who DOES want to play Batman for a long time. My guess is that Reeves is looking for an actor who is probably in the age range of 25 to 30.    

WALTER HAMADA LEADERSHIP IN DC FILMS

Now, from all the chatter, with me listening to many podcasts about DC Comics, I have been hearing with Hamada being in charge of DC Entertainment, he basically re-thought EVERYTHING in what the plan is going forward with this universe. From my opinion, EVERYTHING that Zack Snyder was planning ever since 2013's Man of Steel is gone, GONE GONE. So, we won't get the Legion of Doom, that was hinted at the end of Justice League, we won't see Darkseid invade earth, maybe we will see him in New Gods (directed by Ava DuVernay), we won't get a Justice League 2 for a LONG time. Hamada is the captain of the ship and Geoff Johns is the first mate, what the captain says goes, no discussion.

Walter Hamada's approach seems to be heading to a bright future for DC Films.

He came in and wanted to avoid another disaster with what happened with Justice League (rumours, leaks, reshoots, over budgets etc). One of the main things going forward, with his approach is that the budget for these movies are going to be scale down as much as possible.  You can see that coming into fruition in Aquaman, Shazam and Wonder Woman 1984, a lot of people are excited about those movies whereas before, people were done with DC Films. The trailers that they showed off at San Diego Comic-Con paved off well, there's a huge positive buzz.

Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and Justice League, are the most expensive movies out of the DC Extended Universe, ranging from $225 million to $300 million or more. And while the first two made a decent amount of money, they never hit that success level and JL sadly didn't break-even to be a success. In Variety, and I quote "Warner Bros.’ corporate leaders at Time Warner support the moves and are said to be unhappy with the financial performance of “Justice League”. Then, they said "Time Warner is said to be frustrated that Warner Bros. leaders continue to bring the director back, especially after “Batman v Superman” was excoriated by critics even though it made money. They are also upset that each new DC film seems to be making less money than its predecessor". Only, Suicide Squad (directed by David Ayer) & Wonder Woman (by Patty Jenkins) were the lowest budget movies out of them, SS was $175 million and WW was around $120 to $149 million. And they made their money back, granted, SS didn't do so well in terms of reviews. On the other hand, Wonder Woman made a ton of dollars in the box office and audiences/critics loved it. Time Warner were basically p****** over the fact that WB continue to bring Snyder to direct/oversee these movies when he doesn't make good movies.

While Hamada isn't throwing away the idea of a shared universe, he wants these movies to stand on their own two feet and then, somewhere down the line, hopefully, we will see them come together for a Justice League sequel etc. But, until then, solo movies is the way forward and that a great thing.

A DC Extended Universe is still alive but, let's tell these character's stories, let's us care about them. Then, we can do a team movie. Not let's just throw in a bunch of heroes and have cool visuals/poses and let the budget for the movies be so expensive, that we don't make a successful movie.

So, yeah, that's everything that I can think of. Hopefully, I got all my points across but, if you want a more solid opinion, click HERE, and it will direct you to Mario's latest update on Matt Reeves' The Batman'. And please, read the article, don't just go straight to the big bold words. Just read it, so many people in the last 24 hours have twisted his words. It's becoming a common thing now in the comic book movies universe.

In my opinion, do I think we are going to get a new actor to be Batman? Yes. Do I think it's going to be an origin movie? 65% No, 35% Yes. Do I think Ben Affleck is going to be Batman for multiple movies? No. And that's my honest opinion, I know a lot of people are going to be upset about this Batman news but, for me, as long as Reeves is directing it, he can do whatever he wants. He's a great director, I encourage you to watch, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War of the Planet of the Apes, both movies are masterpieces and you'll see why I'm hyped for his Batman movie. The day when we find out who the new Batman is going to be, a nuke will emerge on the internet.

So, Matt Reeves' The Batman', what do you think about this latest news? Do you think we are going to get a new actor for Batman, do you think Walter Hamada's approach to the DC Films is the right way to go? Or do you want Zack Snyder back and for his ideas to continue? Comment below, spread this article around, make sure to follow me on Twitter (@DammySensei) and I'll see you next time. Later.