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[COLUMN] The Batman, Part 2 Delay Isn't Bad News | by Darren Mooney
🕑 Added 2024-03-18 14:00:18 +0000 UTC
Last week, Warner Bros. moved some of their films around the release calendar. There was some good and exciting news in there, including confirmation that Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie, starring Leonard DiCaprio, would open in IMAX in August 2025. However, the studio gave with one hand and took away with the other. It was announced that Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Part 2 was being pushed back a whole year, from October 2025 to October 2026.
It is always a little frustrating when an anticipated movie is pushed back, particularly one that was already more than a year away and especially one that was already a long-delayed follow-up. The Batman arrived in cinemas in March 2022, meaning that there will be four-and-a-half years between the film and its sequel. That can feel like a long time in Hollywood, particular given the speed with which the franchise machine usually operates.
To illustrate this point, it’s worth looking at this year’s sequel slate. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and Venom: The Last Dance are all sequels to films from 2021, with Venom being the third film this year to be released as part of Sony’s shared Spider-Man universe. Terrifier 3, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Despicable Me 4 are all films following up directly from movies released in 2022. Saw XI is a direct sequel to last year’s Saw X.
Last year, Warner Bros. released four films that were part of their shared DC extended universe: Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Disney released three films and three shows in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, Secret Invasion, Loki, The Marvels, and What If…? It’s also worth acknowledging that many of these production schedules were affected by the pandemic.
The franchise machine can be so unrelenting that even a short break can feel unusual. Warner Bros. are taking a gap year before relaunching their shared superhero universe with James Gunn’s Superman, while Disney are only releasing one theatrical Marvel production this year, Deadpool and Wolverine. There is a constant state of churn and momentum. As such, it is a little strange that it will take Matt Reeves nearly half-a-decade to produce a sequel to a critical and commercial hit.
However, this may not be the worst thing in the world. Much has been written about “superhero fatigue”, and even executives like Kevin Feige or Bob Iger have conceded that this is – at least in part – an issue with volume. Either companies were over-saturating the market with product in a way that devalued their output or the demand to meet a quota led to a slipping of standards. Whatever the precise cause, the result was the same.The past few years have demonstrated that sometimes more is not a good thing.
The reality of modern film distribution means that major studios have to set release dates years in advance. With these blockbuster properties, it’s more likely that films will be greenlit with a pre-determined release date than with a finished script. Indeed, one of James Gunn’s first edicts at Warner Bros. would be that every DC-adjacent property would need a completed script before it entered production.
This might seem like common sense, but it’s not how the industry has come to work. While insisting on a fully finished script before launching production will inevitably delay these projects, it will also save money. One of the reasons that most modern blockbusters cost as much as they do is because they spend large sums of money trying to solve basic story problems in post production, whether through reshoots or through visual effects crunch.
More broadly, there’s plenty of precedent for long gaps between sequels. The original Star Wars trilogy were released at three-year intervals, and it seems safe to acknowledge that Disney’s aggressive release schedule that tried to narrow that gap to two years for the sequel trilogy (which arguably made it very hard to deal with unforeseen tragedies and behind-the-scenes problems) contributed to the issues with The Rise of Skywalker.
There is an argument for giving a filmmaker the space to refresh themselves between high-profile franchise films. Christopher Nolan waited three years between making Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and then four years between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. In each case, Nolan took the time to make a completely separate film. He made The Prestige between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and Inception between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
Indeed, director Denis Villeneuve seems to be following this advice with his potential follow-up to Dune: Part Two. Villeneuve has ambitions to make Dune: Messiah, but has talked about how he might want to “make a detour” before filming it. Villeneuve has a couple of projects simmering, including Rendezvous with Rama and a version of Cleopatra. This makes a great deal of sense. It is a good idea for a filmmaker to have the opportunity to cleanse their palate between franchise films.
Audiences might also appreciate the breather. Last year was not a great year for superhero films, but the two best performing superhero films were Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. These were long-delayed sequels. Across the Spider-Verse hit cinemas five years after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, while Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 had been released six years earlier. There is some truth in the idea that absence makes the heart grow fonder.
After all, it’s not as if audiences are starving for Batman-adjacent content. The Penguin, a direct spin-off from The Batman starring Colin Farrell, will stream on Max this year. Outside of that particular version of the Caped Crusader, Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux will arrive in theatres later this year. Merry Little Batman is currently streaming. Kite Man: Hell Yeah will premiere later this year, spinning out of Harley Quinn. There’s no shortage of material derived from the intellectual property.
In recent years, there has been a devaluation of the idea of art, diluting it to empty “content soup” that can be portioned out like “fan-service methadone.” There is a tendency to treat fans and customers as addicts, who will pay regularly for a “fix” of a property that they enjoy. Indeed, this is the whole concept of the streaming subscription model. However, the collapse of that model and the struggles of the franchises that embraced it most eagerly suggests that is not sustainable.
In fact, as much as the modern franchise machine tries to churn quickly, this year has a number of long-anticipated sequels, movies that weren’t rushed to theatres but also aren’t so far removed from earlier instalments as to be considered legacy sequels, but also aren’t clockwork follow-ups. George Miller’s Furiosa arrives nearly a decade after Mad Max: Fury Road. Kung Fu Panda 4 is doing good business, despite hitting cinemas eight years after Kung Fu Panda 3.
Of course, none of this is to suggest a one-size-fits-all approach to sequel scheduling. There are plenty of great sequels that came out in quick succession. Krzysztof Kieślowski released his Three Colors trilogy in the space of a single year, playing at the three European film festivals. Sergio Leone released his Dollars trilogy over three years, between 1964 and 1966. Francis Ford Coppola released The Godfather, Part II (and The Conversation) just two years after The Godfather.
However, the best approach is most likely to let a filmmaker set their own pace. Rushing a project into production with a looming release date doesn’t seem likely to foster a particularly constructive creative environment. It is not assembly line work. Adherence to a strict schedule will not lead to better results, whether in terms of quality or box office returns. The Batman was a much better film than any of last year’s DC offerings because it felt bespoke, free of corporate meddling or mandates.
In other words, The Batman, Part 2 will take as long as it takes. It’s for the best that Reeves and his collaborators are being given the space to figure out the things that they need to figure out, rather than being rushed to hit a particular target. However, more than that, it’s a good thing that Warner Bros. understands this.
Comments
Brian S
Darren, I agree with most of what you said, but I do have to quibble with the concept of superhero fatigue. I do believe that people are tired of paint by numbers superhero movies, and people won't shell out the money to see them just because studios put them in theaters. That's why people have streaming services! This also explains why Wish (truly terrrible) and Raya and the Last Dragon (quite possibly the most beautiful animated movie I've ever seen combined with the most boring plot and script I've ever endured) didn't excatly break box office records. Compare that to Puss in Boots: the Last Wish (truly incredible, and far better than it neede to be), which was a much smaller movie, but made more than both Disney movies combined: $383,645,430 versus $481,704,541, respectively. Across the Spiderverse, Guardians 3, and The Batman were all excellent films with a singular, cohesive vision, and made plenty of money. I was happy to pay for a ticket for all three movies, and dragged my friends along for second viewings. The Marvels, et al, were not, and they bombed. This doesn't completely explain Joker's success, but I will say that is was a complete film that resonated with a certain demographic with which I hope to never be associated.
William Alexander
"However, more than that, it’s a good thing IF Warner Bros. understands this." I'm hopeful that this is the case. The superhero movie genre has changed so much since the first movie's released. It's so bizarre that Batman became a weird semi-orphan of a franchise. I hope gets away from studio meddling rather than accumulating rushed studio notes from 2022, 2023, and 2024. If nothing else it's a chance for a story with a beginning, middle, and end. I'm also cautiously optimistic.
