In an exclusive interview with Steven Weintraub of Collider for the 15th anniversary of Cloverfield, The Batman director Matt Reeves said he will soon meet with James Gunn and Peter Safran, the new co-heads of DC Studios.
But Reeves says fans shouldn’t worry because his BatVerse will continue to grow along with the new DC Universe. The Batman, Reeves’ masterfully wrought detective story about Bruce Wayne’s emotional development, was released in theatres last year and introduced audiences to a startling new vision of Gotham City.
Even though theatres were still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, the movie was a big hit at the box office. Warner Bros. asked Reeves to start making a sequel and a spinoff miniseries, which makes sense.
A few months after The Batman came out, Warner Bros. and Discovery merged. This shook the DC Universe to its core, and the company decided to change its superhero movie universe. Reeves signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, which was supposed to keep his BatVerse safe during the content cuts.
Matt Reeves says he has a meeting with James Gunn and Peter Safran in a few weeks to discuss his long-term plan for ‘The BatVerse’.
(Source: https://t.co/aniwR0OGjc) pic.twitter.com/nJ8OS2gwQS
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 12, 2023
But once Gunn and Safran were hired to make hard decisions for the sake of a unified story, we all worried that Reeves’ vision for the Dark Knight wouldn’t fit into DC Studios’ 10-year plan for movies, TV shows, and even video games.
We were glad to hear this week that Reeves is still working on a sequel to The Batman. The director also wants to add to his BatVerse with The Penguin, a Colin Farrell-led series that will start filming this year. But that doesn’t mean Reeves can do whatever he wants with his BatVerse. He still needs to meet with Gunn and Safran to talk about his long-term plan. As Reeves tells us:
“They [Gunn and Safran] have been great. […] We’re actually supposed to meet in the next few weeks because they want to talk to me about the broad plan, and then they want to hear the BatVerse plan. We’re just getting together to talk about all of that. Look, I’m excited to hear what they’re going to do. The BatVerse thing, as James has said, and as Peter has said, is kind of its own thing they’re letting us do.”
Is DC Planning to Take an Elseworlds Spin on the BatUniverse?
As co-heads of DC Studios, Gunn and Safran’s first job was to make sure that all of the projects had the same storyline. Because of this, they’ve already made some unpopular choices, like canceling Wonder Woman 3 and getting rid of Henry Cavill’s Superman. So, it’s great to hear that Reeves will be able to keep building his BatVerse without it being connected to the rest of the DC Universe.
Matt Reeves will soon sit down with DC Studios Co-Chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran to let them “hear the BatVerse plan,” which he says they’re supporting as “kind of its own thing they’re letting us do.” https://t.co/JgffA0mwiG pic.twitter.com/8CCs9QDTXz
— IGN (@IGN) January 13, 2023
Gunn and Safran could be following DC Comics’ “Elseworlds” strategy by letting writers create stories set in different timelines, as long as they don’t conflict with the main canon story. Reeves tells us that the main goal of the upcoming meeting is to talk about his BatVerse, Gunn and Safran’s 10-year plan, and see if there are any stories that are similar. In the words of the director:
“I had this dream for the way I wanted that to play out and that’s part of what I’m going to be talking to them about in a few weeks. They’re going to be talking to me about what they’re doing in their ten-year plan or certainly what’s in the near future as well so that we can understand that we’re not—air it’s traffic control—we don’t want to be crashing into each other. We want to support each other. I’m super excited. I’m really excited to hear about what they’re doing and to be working with them. It’s going to be cool.”
On January 17, 2023, the beautiful new limited-edition Cloverfield 4K Ultra HD SteelBook comes out. There is no date set for either the next Batman movie or the Penguin series. Check out the interview we did with Reeves before The Batman came out in theatres.
Follow us only on Lee Daily for more news like this.
