2017 has been off to a rough start for The Batman. Thanks to a trying press circuit for Live By Night that saw Ben Affleck and Warner Bros. seemingly at odds with the current state of the project, the two parties officially made an announcement last week to try and make it easier on the actor-director. Affleck will no longer direct the standalone film, but he is still reportedly going to be heavily involved with process as a star and producer.

Further efforts to lighten Affleck's work load led to Chris Terrio being brought on board to do a rewrite of the script that Affleck and Geoff Johns had previously written. Given Terrio's previous work on Batman V Superman and the upcoming Justice League, news of him contributing to the solo Batman script was not surprising. However, it was recently reported that Warner Bros. is looking to give the incoming director and creative team a fresh start at the film by having the script rewritten, possibly from scratch. A new report refutes this claim, however.

Justin Kroll of Variety responded to a question on Twitter asking if The Batman is indeed scheduled for a page-one rewrite. Kroll's sources claim the new script is already turned in and everyone, including Affleck, is happy with it. That said, the writer of the original report, Mark Hughes, responded to Kroll saying he still hears differently.

@BatmanNewsCom No, several sources already saying new script came in this month and everyone including Emmerich and Ben very happy with it— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) February 9, 2017

@krolljvar @BatmanNewsCom My article actually said anything from big rewrites to a new script, which I'm still hearing from several sources.— Mark Hughes (@markhughesfilms) February 10, 2017

If Kroll's sources are correct, this should be a calming report about the state of the project. Terrio has a long history with Affleck after writing the Oscar winning script for Argo, and the aforementioned DCEU films. With Affleck handing off scriptwriting duties to Terrio, his being reportedly happy with the rewrites is the first piece of positive news that has come Batman's way in about a month.

However, with Hughes still saying his sources indicate a full rewrite is being considered, the conflicting reports make this something of a waiting game. Like they have done recently with the behind-the-scenes shake-ups on The Flash, and the new writer being brought on there, it is likely that Warner Bros. will make clear who is doing what in time. Hughes reported that Matt Reeves was still the frontrunner for the position of director. In that case, news of a new writer -- if there is one -- may well be made public when the studio officially announces a replacement for Affleck in the director's chair, whether it's Reeves or not.

Next: The Batman: Warner Bros. Reportedly Seeking New Script & Creative Team

Source: Justin Kroll