The Batman is delayed four months to October 2021. The upcoming DC Comics film is one of the many projects affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, shutting down principal photography in mid-March due to health concerns. Initially, it was reported The Batman production would be delayed for a couple of weeks, but the hiatus has gone on much longer than that and doesn't appear to be ending anytime soon. There was hope delayed projects could resume shooting in mid-May, but that target date is increasingly becoming too optimistic.

At the time of the shutdown, The Batman had only completed 25 percent of the movie, meaning there's still a considerable amount of work left to be done. With that in mind, many people began to suspect the film would not be able to meet its previously scheduled June 2021 release date. Now, Warner Bros. has gone ahead and moved it to a new window.

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Today, WB announced The Batman will now premiere on October 1, 2021, a little under four months from its original date. It takes the date previously held by the studio's Elvis Presley biopic starring Tom Hanks. The studio also moved The Batman's fellow DCEU installments, The Flash and Shazam 2, as they reorganized their slate.

Robert Pattinson and Batmobile in The Batman

Right now, it looks like most of Hollywood is banking on late summer/early fall for when it will be safe to resume normal business operations again. In WB's case, they have Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984 scheduled for release in July and August, respectively, and they're planning on shooting Black Adam in August or September. Should that all pan out, The Batman could probably continue filming around the time Black Adam starts up, which would mean it'll have plenty of time to be completed by October 2021. Given the fluidity of the COVID-19 situation, it's obviously impossible to say with any guarantee this is how things will happen, but on-paper it reads as a somewhat realistic plan. August/September is most definitely a more realistic timeframe than May at this point, and WB wanted to make sure Reeves didn't have to rush when he got back.

While The Batman is no longer a summer tentpole for WB, it should thrive in its new date. The studio has actually found a tremendous amount of success in early October the past couple of years with A Star is Born and Joker becoming massive hits critically and commercially. It stands reason to believe The Batman, which is arguably the most exciting upcoming comic book movie, will follow suit. The film won't be facing much competition throughout October 2021 either, with only Sony's seemingly cursed Uncharted adaptation the only other project targeting a similar demographic. Hopefully, The Batman is able to resume filming soon and stay on track for this new date.

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Source: WB

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