Rumor: Warner Bros. May Be Eyeing 4 Batman Films For 2019

CBR

By Kevin Melrose

Published Apr 8, 2017

A new rumor suggest the studio may plan to release "The Batman," "Gotham City Sirens," "Nightwing" and "Batgirl" in 2019.

Despite the many questions surrounding "The Batman" following the departure of Ben Affleck as director, Warner Bros. clearly has a lot of faith in the franchise; "Batman & Robin" aside, the property has never failed on the big screen. Executives are even looking to expand upon that corner of the DC Extended Universe, with "Gotham City Sirens" and reported plans for Nightwing and Batgirl solo movies. But is it possible the studio is preparing to go all in on Gotham City?

Amid a torrent of intriguing but unsubstantiated new DCEU rumors, which originated with an anonymous post on 4chan, is the assertion that Warner Bros. plans to celebrate the Dark Knight's 80th anniversary by releasing four Batman-related features in 2019. The post even offers up a rough calendar, with "Gotham City Sirens" arriving in February, following by "Nightwing" on Memorial Day Weekend, "Batgirl" in August and "The Batman" in November.

That's a lot of Batman, and doesn't take into account other DC Extended Universe films targeted for that same year, such as "Shazam!" and the "Justice League" sequel, whose original June 14, 2019, release date has apparently already been shuffled to make way for "The Batman." Never mind all of those announced superhero films, like "The Flash," the "Suicide Squad" and "Man of Steel" sequels, and "Black Adam," which don't yet have target dates.

There's no way of judging the veracity of the rumor, but Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment do love their anniversary celebrations. That said, going all in on Batman is more than a little risky, and a prime Memorial Day opening for "Nightwing" (versus, say, "The Batman") seems unlikely. Still, it's an interesting rumor to chew on, with a healthy dose of salt.

While you're digesting that one, you can savor the other DCEU rumors from the same source:

The plan for 2019 is to release four Batman related films. Gotham City Sirens around Valentine's Day weekend, Nightwing on Memorial Day weekend, Batgirl in August and The Batman in November. The studio is doing this to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of Batman.

The Batman film will still have Deathstroke but not as a main villain. Matt Reeves wants to do a larger scale Batman film that will include the Bat family as well as most of Batman's rogues.

In addition, two Batman animated films are also planned for 2019. One will be an adaptation of The Long Halloween.

Grant Wilson might be the villain for the Nightwing solo film. He is hired by Roland Desmond to take out all the mob bosses in Blüdhaven.

Suicide Squad 2 or Dark Universe will most likely be taking Aquaman's previous release date.

Mel Gibson is no longer the front runner to direct the Suicide Squad sequel. Jaume Collet-Serra and Ruben Fleischer are now the top candidates. The script is currently being written with a story pitch given by Ayer. Killer Frost will be the new female lead to replace Harley Quinn.

The Dark Universe script is going through final rewrites. Guillermo Del Toro's old treatment was used as a base and was rewritten to connect to the universe. If Liman is ready, filming could start as early as summer.

Four movies are also planned for 2020. Warner Bros wants to do two low budget/smaller scale films and two big budget/larger scale films per year.

Jonathan Levine is in talks to direct The Flash. The film will most likely release in 2020.

Matthew Vaughn will most likely write the Man of Steel sequel if he takes on the directional duties

(via Reddit)