The actor has officially stepped down from portraying Bruce Wayne as the solo movie finally gets a release date.
- Jan 31, 2019
AceShowbiz - Warner Bros. is moving forward with "The Batman" solo movie, which had been long in dormant period with the uncertainty about Ben Affleck's involvement. The studio has set June 25, 2021 as a U.S. release date for the film, which is written and will be directed by Matt Reeves.
As for Affleck, the actor has officially hung his Batman cowl. He passes the torch to the next generation of Bruce Wayne since the movie will focus on a younger Bruce Wayne. Fully supporting the project, the "Justice League" actor tweeted on Wednesday, January 30, "Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life."
Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life. https://t.co/GNgyJroMIO
— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) January 31, 2019
Reeves was tapped to take over the helming duty from Affleck, who was originally set to direct, in February 2017. He has previously said that the movie would not be based on Frank Miller's beloved "Year One" series, though it's his personal favorite.
He explained, "Obviously, we're not doing an origin tale or anything like that. We're doing a story that is definitively Batman though, and trying to tell a story that's emotional and yet is really about him being the world's greatest detective and all the things that for me, since I was a kid, made me love Batman."
Instead, the movie will be noir-inspired. Reeves shared, "I've talked about making it a very point of view noir-driven definitive Batman story in which he is investigating a particular case and that takes us out into the world of Gotham."
The "War for the Planet of the Apes" director further talks about his vision for the new Batman movie in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "It's more Batman in his detective mode than we've seen in the films. The comics have a history of that," he says. "He's supposed to be the world's greatest detective, and that's not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been. I'd love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it's going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation."
Hinting that there will be multiple villains, Reeves says "there will be a Rogues Gallery." He adds that "the casting process will begin shortly."
