Good news for fans of Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight. In Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent letter to shareholders, the company announced that Matt Reeves’ long-awaited “The Batman Part II” will finally begin filming in spring 2026 for an October 2027 theatrical release. Pattinson, who’s gone from filming Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” to Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three’ this year alone, returns in the title role.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s shareholder letter celebrated the recent success of James Gunn’s “Superman,” which kicked off the new DC Universe across film and television. The tentpole has earned nearly $550 million and counting worldwide. The company wrote: “DC Studio’s universe of characters represents not only one of Warner Bros. Discovery’s most valuable pieces of intellectual property, but one of the most valuable assets in entertainment.”
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“In film, James Gunn is busy preparing the next installments of the DC super family, including ‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow’ (2026), ‘Clayface’ (2026) and the next ‘Wonder Woman.’ In addition, ‘The Batman II’ (2027) is preparing to begin shooting next spring, among several other projects in development. The 10-year vision for the DC universe also includes an exciting array of television projects, including ‘The Penguin,’ the upcoming new season of ‘Peacemaker,’ and the debut of ‘Lanterns’ in 2026. In a precise and measured way, the DC franchise will increasingly overlay across the studio’s broader efforts: from film and TV to consumer products, games, experiences and social.”
Fans have been waiting years for a sequel to Reeves and Pattinson’s “The Batman,” which opened in theaters in March 2022 and grossed $772 million at the worldwide box office. It’s been a long development road for “The Batman” sequel, which Warner Bros. delayed last year from Oct. 2, 2026 to Oct. 1, 2027. Warner Bros. confirmed to Variety on June 27 that Reeves and finally completed the script.
While “The Batman” sequel will now open more than five years after the original, Gunn has often defended the delay on social media by writing: “To be fair, a 5-year gap or more is fairly common in sequels. 7 years between ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens.’ 14 years between ‘Incredibles.’ 7 years between the first two ‘Terminators.’ 13 years between ‘Avatars.’ 36 years between ‘Top Guns.’ And, of course, 6 years between ‘Guardians Vol 2’ and ‘Vol 3.’”
“Matt [Reeves] is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write,” Gunn added in a separate post. “Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films.”
Gunn’s rule at the new DC Studios is that no movie will move forward into the pre-production and production processes until the screenplay is finished, unlike Marvel Studios where movies often enter production with the script still taking shape. Gunn said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this summer that fans should have patience when it comes to getting sequels made.
“People should get off Matt’s nuts because it’s like, let the guy write the screenplay in the amount of time he needs to write it,” Gunn said then about “The Batman” sequel. “That’s just the way it is. He doesn’t owe you something because you like his movie. I mean, you like his movie because of Matt. So let Matt do things the way he does.”
Gunn added, ““I am irritated by people. I mean, it’s just that thing people don’t need to be entitled about. It’s going to come out when he feels good about the screenplay. And Matt’s not going to give me the screenplay until he feels good about the screenplay.”
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