The Batman And The Mandalorian Will Have One Important Thing In Common

After the first trailer got us hyped with its scores of hints and Easter eggs, it might be tough to deal with the news that The Batman won't be hitting the screen until March of 2022. Still, the cast and crew aren't just lounging around, and fans have no small amount of news to pour over. Production on The Batman has resumed with the continuing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic forcing extra safety measures to be put in place.

As is the case with any high-profile production, fans are sure to study every photo and video that emerges from behind the scenes, and we've got some fresh news about what's happening on-set. According to one report, there's a special piece of technology coming to The Batman that should have fans extremely excited, especially if you're a fan of The Mandalorian. While a Disney+ space adventure series and a gritty crime caper may not seem like they would have a lot in common, the two productions utilize technology that's quickly moving to the forefront of filmmaking.

According to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, Industrial Light & Magic's chief creative officer Rob Bredow revealed during a video session on October 19th that The Batman would be using the company's virtual production techniques popularized by The Mandalorian. Virtual production is a growing area of interest in filmmaking whereby giant LED walls powered by a state-of-the-art Unreal game engine are set up around a pre-built set. From there, visual effects are rendered in real time to provide a life-like backdrop.

Bredow didn't comment on how exactly the technology would be used on The Batman. What we do know is that the crew has developed practical sets in the United Kingdom. The LED wall has been set up around these sets to allow for virtual production in certain scenes. It's incredibly exciting to imagine how this technology could be implemented on The Batman as filmmaker Matt Reeves builds out an intricate, atmospheric Gotham unlike anything we've seen in a Batman movie before. 

This virtual production set-up has also been used on The Mandalorian season 2, and it will be utilized to varying degrees on upcoming films like Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder and the George Clooney-directed The Midnight Sky. The Batman report also hyped up the future of this technology, with Bredow stating that the "Holy Grail is that our entire workflow can go real-time, with less time waiting for computers to process." 

The Batman will (hopefully) arrive on March 4th, 2022. Season 2 of The Mandalorian will premiere on Disney+ on October 30th, 2020.