Warner Bros has confirmed their commitment to The Batman director Matt Reeves, by signing an overall first-look film deal with him. Additionally, Mattson Tomlin has been brought in to co-write the script for The Batman 2 with Reeves. The Batman was critically-acclaimed, and made $770 million at the box office.
According the The Hollywood Reporter; Tomlin worked on The Batman (first movie), coming in during the development when third act issues arose, although he did not receive screenwriting credit, which Reeves shared with Peter Craig. This time around, Tomlin is coming in on the ground floor.
Since the Warner Bros Discovery merger, and subsequent upheaval, things have been up in the air. But Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy (hired by David Zaslav to run the film division) have signed their first overall deal – and it’s with Matt Reeves. “Pam and I gratefully inherited the relationship with Matt from The Batman, and through the beginning stages of planning The Penguin series for HBO Max,” De Luca told Deadline. “Making this legendary studio my home is a dream,” said Reeves in a statement.
De Luca continued; “We were excited to nail down his overall deal because it’s a cornerstone of what we want to do with the filmmakers that are working at the studio. We want to create an atmosphere where all of these filmmakers can excel and do their work and stay with us once they are inside the Warners family. Keeping Matt and creating a home for him to do more projects in the Batman universe but also originals, was very important to us.”
“Matt is one of the most imaginative and creative minds in the business,” said Channing Dungey, chairman of the television group. “We look forward to continuing our partnership…and expanding the world Matt so artfully created with The Batman film through our upcoming series The Penguin.”
So, during a tumultuous time for both Warner Bros and DC, this development has made a strong statement that they are committed to what Reeves is doing with Batman. We are yet to find out how central Barry Keoghan’s Joker will be to the sequel, but it seems unlikely that we’d be teased just for him not be the central villain.
While we wait to find out, check out our guide to the best Batman actors, ranked.