The Batman release date has been pushed back

The premiere date for Matt Reeves’ The Batman has been pushed back four months from its initial release of June 25, 2021 to October 1, 2021. This delay comes as a result of the current global coronavirus pandemic, which has affected the entire entertainment industry, with many movies and TV shows having to be postponed as a result of lockdown.

Sadly, The Batman isn’t the only DC property to see a changed in release date. Warner Bros. announced that The Flash movie starring Ezra MIller has been moved up a month, from July 1, 2022 to June 2, 2022. Shazam 2, the sequel to the successful 2019 DC movie, has also seen a substantial delay from April 1st, 2022 to November 4th, 2022.

Up until now, we’ve mostly seen delays as a result of studios not wanting to release movies while theaters are still closed. This new one is a result of productions being shut down around the world. Reeves has shot only about a quarter of The Batman, and this breaks gives him an opportunity to reassess some things, although he told Deadline he doesn’t plan to rewrite the story:

"It took me two years to work on that story, and it’s a very specific mystery noir that’s been really thought-out by me and my partners…I would say that the changes really have to do with ‘Oh, seeing the tone of this’ with these scenes we haven’t done which connect to that part of the storyline.  It feels like there might be an opportunity to explore some of that unexpected tone that we found. With these movies, you never have enough prep time, because they’re so complex and so enormous in so many ways. It also gives me a moment to think about the larger sequences that have yet to come up and how I want to realize those."

When the delay was announced, Mattson Tomlin — a screenwriter working on The Batman — tweeted a cool teaser for the movie, with fans suspicious that he might be hinting at a potential link to the iconic Batman comic, The Long Halloween. “October. Suits the mood,” he wrote.

Something is telling me that Tomlin just meant this as a joke, but you never know: maybe we’ll see the Holiday killer on the loose in The Batman. Regardless, an October release date marks the first-ever time that a Batman movie has ever been released near Halloween!

In the meantime, remember to do your part to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by staying at home and washing your hands! The sooner this is over, the sooner we can have our bat-fun.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels

h/t CBR