Its fair to say that Warner Bros. and DC have, in appearance, had a string of bad news come out. Whether it was the the page one rewrites on "The Flash" or Ben Affleck not directing "The Batman", uncertainty ruled the future of these films. Now, hopefully, it seems that things may, just may, be looking up, at least for "The Batman".
Script issues
One of the more recent, and more troubling, stories to come out about the new standalone film was the apparent page one rewrite that was going to happen for the film. This sent out the message that both Warner and Affleck were either unhappy or had disagreements about the script itself.
This came on the heels of apparent rewrites by Chris Terrio on the script that had originally been penned by Affleck and DC creative head, Geoff Johns.
However, things may be looking up now thanks to a tweet from Variety's Justin Kroll, who originally reported on Affleck stepping down from the director's chair. So while this should be taken with a grain of salt, it is also coming from someone who has an accurate reporting history. When he was asked if there was any truth to the story about the page one rewrite, he said it was false, and that there was a script, tweaked by Terrio based on Affleck and Johns script, that Affleck and WB President Toby Emmerich are happy with. So granted, while this should be taken with a grain of salt, it could be the first sign of things coming together.
New direction
The other gut punch to happen to "The Batman" proved to be Ben Affleck's decision to step out of the director's chair. Despite the disappointing performance of his latest film, "Live by Night", there was still an air of excitement around an academy award level director getting behind the camera for the dark knight's latest standalone film.
This proved to be the story that preempted the aforementioned script issues that had been reported on.
While this was a gut punch to the film, but now things may also be coming together behind the camera. The latest report to come out is that Matt Reeves is in early talks to pick up the reigns from Affleck as director. Reeves, who directed "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and its upcoming sequel, "War for the Planet of the Apes", was supposedly at the top of a short list of directors following Affleck's decision.
Given the praise "Dawn" received following its release and the anticipation for the third film in the series, Reeves could prove to be just the right guy to step in to direct and replace Affleck.
So while things may still be a bit rocky with Warner Bros. and DC's cinematic universe, these two pieces provide some much needed good news to what seemed to be a messy and maligned film. Now, as mentioned, these should still be taken with a few grains of salt, but if these come together, it may be just the shot in the arm the both the film and studios need.
