“The Batman” filmmaker Matt Reeves is staying in the Warner Bros. family for the foreseeable future. The writer and director who revitalized the Batman franchise with Robert Pattinson earlier this year has become the first filmmaker to set up a first look deal with Warner Bros. since Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav set Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to run the film division.
Reeves and his 6th and Idaho banner will make Warner Bros. their home for film projects in a multi-year deal while he’s currently toiling away on writing a sequel to “The Batman” with Mattson Tomlin, which he will once again direct (and yes, Pattinson is back as Bruce Wayne).
Additionally, Reeves has re-upped his existing deal with Warner Bros. Television as he preps a Penguin spinoff series starring Colin Farrell for HBO Max.
The news comes at an interesting time as the animated series “Batman: The Caped Crusader” — which Reeves was producing alongside J.J. Abrams and was in development — was axed at HBO Max on Monday and is now being shopped to other outlets.
The move to sign Reeves to a first-look deal could be a signal from De Luca and Abdy that, despite some consternation at Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent moves, they’re looking to ensure that Warner Bros. is a fruitful home for creatives.
Reeves first made waves as a genre filmmaker with 2008’s “Cloverfield” followed by his critically acclaimed “Let the Right One In” English-language remake “Let Me In.” He became the steward of the “Planet of the Apes” franchise with 2014’s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and concluded the Andy Serkis-fronted trilogy by directing 2017’s well-received “War for the Planet of the Apes.”
Deadline first reported the news.
