Potential Bad News Is Coming For The Batman

Robert Pattinson's Batman may have to hold his Bat-horses.

Rumor-mongering website We Got This Covered is reporting that Warner Bros. and DC Films, which have paused production on the upcoming The Batman in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, are seriously considering pushing the flick back from its planned release date of June 25, 2021.

That sure seems like a long way off, and it's worth noting — as we always do — that WGTC is typically not a reliable source of inside information. In our estimation, though, this particular rumor (and at this point, that's exactly what it is) holds a bit more water than the standard gossip in which the site is known to traffic.

This is because, unfortunately, nobody has any idea as to how long the spread of the virus will accelerate, when it will begin to abate, and for how long precautions will need to be taken to prevent a resurgence. While it's possible that some productions which had wrapped shooting when the outbreak hit (like James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, for instance) might be able to hold steady with their planned release dates, The Batman was smack in the middle of shooting when writer-director Matt Reeves and his cast and crew were forced to pack it in.

With no way of knowing when production will be able to resume, it would be surprising if Warner Bros. were not strongly considering pushing back The Batman's release date. Post-production on a big-budget tentpole can typically take a year or more to complete — meaning that even if the flick were miraculously able to go back before the cameras next week, there would likely be a pretty serious time crunch.

Sadly, not only do we find this rumor to be credible, it wouldn't surprise us to get an official announcement any time now.

It's all but certain that at least one other DC flick will be affected by the coronavirus outbreak: Wonder Woman 1984, which was to be released on June 4. There's virtually no way that will happen, but at this time, we don't know just how long of a delay fans of Gal Gadot's Wondy will have to endure.

As we mentioned, The Suicide Squad — slated for release on August 6, 2021 — has wrapped, so it might be safe. But two other productions which are slated to be shot pretty much simultaneously may also be in danger of getting delayed: Black Adam, which will star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and Shazam 2.

Those movies are currently scheduled to drop on December 22, 2021, and April 1, 2022, respectively. Again, that seems like a virtual eternity, and with any good fortune, the coronavirus outbreak will be a speck in our rearview mirrors by then — but both movies were to begin filming this summer, and right now, that simply seems like an impossibility.

Another flick that could be in the red zone: the Ezra Miller-starring The Flash, which was all set to begin pre-production in April. That movie is currently slotted for a July 1, 2022 release, well over two years from now — and if you hadn't figured it out before, it may now be dawning on you the kind of insane ripple effect the COVID-19 outbreak could have on Hollywood for literally years to come.

Fortunately, there's no shortage of real-life heroes in this outbreak — like the service workers keeping us all in food and sundries, and the millions of everyday folks who have upended their daily routines to self-quarantine. Now is their time; the fictional heroes will wait.