Rumor: Ben Affleck Signing On For Solo Batman Trilogy
As of now, following his role as The Dark Knight in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, we already know that Ben Affleck is going to stick around as Batman for another solo movie that he will also write and direct. However, it sounds like Warner Bros. wants to stay in the Batfleck business for a little longer.
A new rumor has surfaced saying that a screening of Batman v. Superman just took place for the film's crew and Warner Bros. executive, and Zack Snyder's working cut of the movie got a standing ovation from those in attendance. That's not hard to achieve in a room of people that worked on a movie, but reportedly Ben Affleck does such a good job in this movie that the studio wants him for an entire Batman trilogy instead of just one more more.
Find out more about Ben Affleck Batman sequels after the jump!
Den of Geek is behind this latest rumor, which isn't entirely surprising. If Warner Bros. was already interested in having a solo Batman movie with Ben Affleck staring, writing and directing, then they were likely already wanting a solo Batman franchise outside of Batman v. Superman and eventually Justice League.
But the main reason this is so fascinating, and also somewhat worrisome, is that this shows Warner Bros. has no overarching plan for the DC Comics cinematic universe, and they're pretty much just making it up as they go along. That could be good or bad, but if Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is actually as good as this screening may indicate, then maybe they know what they're doing.
You might be thinking to yourself that this makes sense since Ben Affleck's movies The Accountant and Live by Night were just pushed back. But a new deal for a Batman trilogy wouldn't have any impact on those movies on the release schedule. After all, The Accountant has already been shot, and Live by Night will shoot in November. So Warner Bros. isn't trying to get Batman off the ground in the next year or anything like that.
The first solo Batman movie has been rumored to maybe be arriving sometime in 2018, but that hasn't been confirmed yet. More than likely we wont' hear any official announcements about the studio's plans for Batman until after Batman v. Superman hits theaters in March next spring. But no matter how the Batman deal plays out, this is just the beginning of what DC Comics plans to bring to the big screen, and hopefully they can stick the landing.