WB brings news of The Batman 2, Barbie, an alleged Flash movie, and more to CinemaCon
Sounds like WB is leaving Fantastic Beasts to be found by someone else
Fresh off of killing scripted television at TNT and TBS, Warner Bros. Discovery decided that, sure, CinemaCon in Las Vegas is as good a place as any to try and will their DC Universe back into existence.
First the obvious news: There’s going to be a sequel to The Batman, if you can believe it. As per the Warner Bros. panel earlier today, Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson will suit up for another round of caped crusades. No other word on that, but we presume characters like Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon and Andy Serkis’ Alfred will also be returning. But that’s what everyone said about Rachel Dawes and look how she ended up.
“Thank you all for your tremendous support for The Batman,” Reeves told the crowd. “We couldn’t have gotten here without the faith and enthusiasm of all your teams around the world. I’m excited to jump back into this world for the next chapter.”
The Batman has made more than $760 million worldwide, which is a heck of a lot more money than it would have made if it was released on HBO Max simultaneously. Isn’t it strange how that works?
Elsewhere during the panel, Australian maximalist Baz Luhrmann gave a tantalizing taste of his bug-nuts-looking Elvis movie. As many predicted, Col. Tom Parker is the main character of Elvis. “It’s more about America in the ‘50s, the ‘60s and the ‘70s,” he said. “To tell the story of Elvis through Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks—the Rolls Royce of actors.”
“You will hear the classics,” Luhrmann continued, “you will see the story of Elvis, but we translated it to the younger generation.” Sounds like Elvis will go the full Baz.
On the Barbie front—Barbie is the Elvis of the toy world, after all. Greta Gerwig’s star-studded movie about a Barbie girl living in a Barbie world will release on July 21, 2023.
As for Wonka, the [sigh] Willy Wonka origin story, Timothee Chalamet will doff his big ol’ hat on December 15, 2023.
It should also be noted that Warners didn’t have much news on the Harry Potter front, seeing as the proverbial minefield of releasing a movie about child wizards is simply too much to bear these days. They did make mention of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore, a movie we assume came out years ago, to “muted enthusiasm.”
Speaking of troubled franchises starring Ezra Miller, Warner Bros. brought some footage of an alleged Flash movie that has yet to evidence its existence. Despite some fan requests, Ezra Miller is still in The Flash and so is Michael Keaton, who delivers a mellower bit more confident reading of the fan-favorite line, “You want to get nuts? Let’s get nuts.” Yeah, we anticipate lots of callbacks like that to provide a sweet drip of serotonin as we sit through exposition about the “speed force.”
Somehow our most anticipated movie on the slate, Shazam: Fury Of The Gods also got some love, despite still being something of the forgotten child of the DC Universe. Warner brought out the G.O.A.T Helen Mirren, who plays Hepera opposite an all-star cast including Rachel Zegler and Lucy Liu. Shazam Fury Of The Gods will now open on December 12, 2022.
Elsewhere in the DC Universe, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom director James Wan took the stage to show off a sizzle reel of unfinished footage. Aquaman swims into multiplexes on March 17, 2023. Wan stayed on stage to announce Salem’s Lot, which you can sink teeth into on September 9.
Finally, WB’s panel brought out Dwayne Johnson to sell us on Black Adam and DC League Of Super Pets. After calling Black Adam “the Dirty Harry of the DC Universe,” which we assume means he’s an abusive, borderline sociopathic police officer, Johnson announced that the film will introduce the Justice Society Of America. We look forward to seeing the Golden Age Flash and his helmet in the near future.
Johnson also premiered some footage that expounded on the Dirty Harry comparisons. “Superheroes don’t kill people,” says Hawkman. “I do,” retorts Adam. Get pumped for Black Adam, the superhero who kills people, in cinemas on October 21, 2022.
Oh, and did we mention they’re going to continue making The Batman movies? Didn’t see that one coming.