There’s a new Batman at Gotham City, but if this latest leak is right, 2021’s The Batman might have a whole lot in common with arguably the best DC Comics movie of all time.
According to a report on Generation List, Batman will resume shooting July 6 in Chicago. The Robert Pattinson reboot was formerly filming in England (presumably for a few spooky Arkham Asylum scenes) before the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to production. (Generation List is a membership website that helps TV and film-makers locate work on upcoming projects, and also the Batman listing was reshared on Reddit’s DCEU escapes community together with the caveat that PL is not always dependable ).
That is big news for anybody concerned. The Batman may not hit on its October 2021 release date after the movie was delayed from its initial June 25 premiere. It’s even bigger news for fans of those Christopher Nolan Batman movies, especially the critically acclaimed second movie, The Dark Knight.
While Gotham is a fictional city, it is sometimes considered the DC universe’s stand-in for New York. (Some DC stories take place in NYC, but in the first days of Batman comics, both cities were the same.) Nonetheless, in The Dark Knight, Nolan flipped that tradition by filming mostly in Chicago, which gave the movie its different appearance.
The Dark Knight Rises returned to NYC (it also took in London and Pittsburgh) to facilitate Bane’s assault on the moneyed elite as symbolized by Wall Street — the similarities using Occupy Wall Street were seemingly just an unfortunate coincidence. Rises had its moments, but few Batman fans would assert it’s anywhere near as good as its predecessor, The Dark Knight.
The Batman will also be taken in Chicago (at least partly ) is excellent news for anybody hoping to get a return to the style and tone of The Dark Knight. And that creation could resume in only a few weeks is excellent news for anyone expecting director Matt Reeves’ vision for the Caped Crusader and Robert Pattinson’s performance as the world’s greatest detective.
There’s a lot we don’t understand about The Batman. Still, with a stellar cast and a rogues’ gallery of villains (Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin, and mob boss Carmine Falcone are confirmed), this is shaping up for a reasonably exciting film. The risk that it may feature the backdrop as the best film ever is why we could barely wait for its release.