‘The Batman 2’ Officially Happening, Rob Pattinson and Director Matt Reeves Returning

The Batman is officially getting a sequel with Robert Pattinson and director Matt Reeves. Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment announced The Batman 2 at CinemaCon on Tuesday night, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Details on the project are pretty slim, but it’s enough to know that we’ll be going back to that version of Gotham City.

“Matt took one of our most iconic and beloved superheroes and delivered a fresh vision,” said Warner Bros. executive Toby Emmerich. “Matt Reeves, Rob Pattinson and the entire team will be taking audiences back to Gotham with The Batman 2.” So far, there’s no production schedule or release date for this movie and it’s not even clear what its official title will be. However, the first movie left enough open questions for fans to see a second installment coming.

The Batman was Pattinson’s first round as a superhero and it was a complete reboot for DC’s most iconic caped crusader. It was advertised as a step back from the massive blockbuster productions of the last few years with a budget of just under $200 million and a focus on street-level crime-fighting. It also returned to Batman’s roots as a detective and portrayed Bruce Wayne in a more vulnerable way than many other recent attempts.

The movie focused mainly on Batman in a high stakes game of wits against The Riddler (Paul Dano,) but it introduced plenty of other characters to explore in future movies – including villains. Fans were captivated by Colin Farrell as Penguin, for instance, and the movie left his fate open-ended. Meanwhile, many fans were obsessed with Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, and there are plenty of places that story could go in a future installment.

Warner Bros. has already ordered a limited series called The Penguin – a spinoff about Farrell’s character and the seedy underworld he seems to have control over. It’s not clear if that takes Farrell out of the running for another movie or makes him more likely to appear.

Reeves spoke at CinemaCon himself – mostly about the comeback of the movie theatre industry. The Batman is the highest-grossing film of 2022 so far with $759 million at the box office. Reeves spoke to a crowd of theater operators, saying: “Helping to play a role in your success is very important to me.”

“The success of The Batman was a true team effort. We could not have gotten to this place without… the theatrical experience. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. As a lifelong fan of the movies, I treasure what you do,” he went on. “There’s a sanctuary to be found in the movies.”

The Batman is streaming now on HBO Max. The Batman 2 has been confirmed but it’s not clear when it will go into production or when it might premiere. There are similarly sparse details on The Penguin.