Warner Bros. has announced that The Batman: Part II, the sequel to 2022’s The Batman, has been pushed back a year. The U.S. release date for the Matt Reeves-directed DC film is now October 1st, 2027, a substantial move from the original release date of October 2nd, 2026 (October 1st, 2026, in Australia).
Filming for the follow-up isn’t set to begin until late summer (U.S. season) next year, and with the heavy visual effects work anticipated for the movie, the studio seems to be allowing more time to ensure a polished final product. The Robert Pattinson-led sequel will also receive the IMAX treatment, a format Warner Bros. has embraced for their big-ticket releases.
DC Studios co-chair James Gunn has shed light on the pushback. “Sure. Yes, it is true,” Gunn confirmed, addressing a fan’s question on Threads. “The only reason for the delay is there isn’t a full script (those of you who follow me here probably know that already). Matt is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write. Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films.”
Interestingly, Warner Bros. had already reserved the first weekend of October 2027 for a DC title, making this shift seem more like a strategic reorganisation than an outright setback.
The Batman was a win for the studio when it launched in 2022, earning wide acclaim from both critics and audiences. It was also a box office hit, raking in $US772 million globally – $US369.3 million of which was earned domestically in the U.S. The film even spawned acclaimed HBO spinoff series The Penguin, with Colin Farrell reprising his role as Oswald “Oz” Cobb. That crime drama has become one of the streaming platform’s biggest hits.
Looking at the U.S. release window, moving into the newly vacated October 2026 slot is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s still-untitled drama starring Tom Cruise. Also scheduled for an IMAX release, this mysterious project boasts a cast that includes Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed, and Michael Stuhlbarg. While details remain scarce, the pairing of Iñárritu and Cruise has, of course, sparked interest.
Warner Bros. has also shuffled U.S. release dates for other major titles. Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi project Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson, moves to March 7th, 2025, while Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a horror film with Michael B. Jordan in a dual role, takes the Easter weekend slot of April 18th, 2025.
While the wait for The Batman 2 just got longer, here’s hoping the extra time is indeed a calculated effort to ensure the sequel meets expectations.
