Following the President’s National Emergency address on Friday, nearly every major studio in Hollywood has announced production closures on upcoming movies both big and small. One studio that appeared to be bucking the trend was Warner Bros. It was reported earlier in the day that The Batman, currently shooting in the UK, and The Matrix 4, which just moved from San Francisco to a sound stage in Berlin, would both carry on production as planned. And Fantastic Beasts 3 was gearing up to shoot this Monday. Now, Warner Bros. has confirmed that The Batman will officially go on a two-week production hiatus.
The first movie to officially shut down was the upcoming Elvis biopic starring Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker. It was discovered that both Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for Coronavirus. Elvis went on hiatus in Australia, and quite a few more movies followed in its wake.
After a few on-location field shoots, The Batman had recently been shooting on a sound stage in London, with production starting this past January. The crew was getting ready to head to Liverpool for another set of on-location filming. Now, Warner Bros. has stepped in and postponed the Liverpool shoot.
It isn’t known when the shoot was going to wrap or how long production was expected to continue. There is no word on whether this two-week halt will effect the June 2021 release date.
For now, The Matrix 4 will continue to shoot after moving from San Francisco to Berlin. That production will be housed in a soundstage where safety measures can be enacted to ensure the crew is not in danger. Will Smith’s King Richard, which is about Serena and Venus Williams’ father, has also not stopped production. The film had to rearrange its scheduled due to bad weather in Los Angeles. When the weather clears up, continuing on with the shoot could be a different story.
Robert Pattinson is the new Bruce Wayne and will be suiting up as The Batman. Zoe Kravitz is playing the new Catwoman. Paul Dano will appear as the Riddler. Colin Farrell is giving us his take on Penguin. Jeffrey Wright is James Gordon and Andy Serkis will ditch the mo-cap suit to play butler Alfred Pennyworth.
For now, The Batman is still scheduled to hit theaters on June 25, 2021. Other movies that have been put on hiatus during the pandemic include Jurassic World 3: Dominion, The Man From Toronto, Marvel’s Chang-Chi, every Disney movie and Marvel Disney+ show, including The Little Mermaid live-action remake, The Falcon and the Winter Solider, WandaVision, and Loki. This news comes from Variety.
