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The Batman, the highly-anticipated new take on the Caped Crusader starring Robert Pattinson, will hit theaters later than expected. The film was scheduled to debut on June 25 2021 – instead, it's been pushed back just over three months to October 1, 2021. The Flash has also changed release date, from July 2022 to June 3, as has Shazam 2, from April 2022 to November 4, 2022.
As GamesRadar+ previously reported, production on The Batman shut down mid-March due to coronavirus concerns. The movie was shooting in Glasgow, Scotland as recently as February, where we got our first unofficial look at the full Batsuit. Afterwards, Matt Reeves shared some moody shots of Pattinson in full Bat Garb next to a souped-up muscle car moonlighting as the Batmobile.
The film is just one of several that have had adjusted release dates due to Warner Bros. shifting its schedule in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both The Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, and the biopic King Richard have been pushed out of 2020 entirely. The Many Saints of Newark was initially meant to release on September 25, and King Richard was due to hit theaters in late November.
The Batman's delayed release may not seem like a big change from its initial release date, but it's important to note that the push back to early fall moves it out of the summer blockbuster category and more decidedly into the Halloween movie/genre film season. We'll see how that affects the film's performance, along with the overall change in cinema attendance that will likely linger long after COVID-19 fears have disappeared.
Delays and pontification aside, Matt Reeves' take on Batman will certainly be an interesting, dark, and (according to Robert Pattinson) grimy film, and I'm excited to see what it brings to the table next October.
