'Planet Of The Apes' Helmer Matt Reeves Officially Set To Direct 'The Batman' [UPDATED]

UPDATE 2/23/17: It looks like Matt Reeves will be directing The Batman after all. Warner Bros. officially announced the hire today, with president and chief content officer Toby Emmerich saying they were "thrilled" with the decision. The press release (which you can read here) oddly does not mention Ben Affleck, even though he officially remains on board to produce and star, but Erik Davis has confirmation from the studio that Affleck is still set to play Batman.

Our original story from 2/10/17 (with our update from 2/17/17) follows.

UPDATE 2/17/17: As reported by THR today, talks have broken down and Matt Reeves will no longer be directing Warner Bros.' solo Batman movie. The trade adds, however, that there's still a chance talks will resume later on. In any case, the studio is still set on making the film, and will continue to try and fill the director's chair.War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves is in negotiations to direct The Batman starring Ben Affleck for Warner Bros. More details on The Batman director, after the jump.THR says that other directors interested in the gig included Ridley Scott and Don't Breathe director Fede Alvarez. Borys Kit says that Reeves had a job clinching meeting with the studio earlier today. But Warner Bros has chosen Matt Reeves, and unless something falls through in negotiations, Reeves will direct the next Batman movie.

The writing has been on the wall for a while now even if we chose to ignore it. Then it was revealed that Ben Affleck would not be directing the Batman solo movie, destroying most of my hope for the future of the DC movie universe. Who could possibly replace Ben Affleck as director of The Batman? Warner Bros already has a short list of directors that they are meeting for the project.

Matt Reeves is the director of The Pallbearer, Cloverfield, Let Me In and the two Planet of the Apes sequels, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes. He has a great eye for action and tone, with a knack for smartly grounding his blockbuster stories. War for the Planet of the Apes is currently deep in post-production and will hit theaters in July, so it's unlikely Reeves would be available before then.

Another director who was suposedly in the running for the directing gig was Matt Ross , an actor (Face/Off, American Psycho) who has recently made waves as a director, having helmed the critically acclaimed 2016 film Captain Fantastic which debuted at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

To be honest, I was very excited to see a Ben Affleck-directed Batman movie, and I'm not sure there are many names that could equal the potential of what could have been. It seems unlikely that Warner Bros will hire an auteur director. Matt Reeves might be the closest thing to the level of that as he has proven he can produce artful smart films while working on big blockbuster films in the studio system.