Looks like the next “Batman” movie might go “Planet of the Apes” on us
While Ben Affleck’s Batman is all over the DC movieverse, he still isn’t the star of his own movie. Maybe DC thought that the viewing public needed a break from Christian Bale’s Bat-centric series? After turning down a chance to self-direct a standalone film, perhaps Affleck just wanted to chill for a bit?
Well no more: Matt Reeves is going to direct the next Batman film, reportedly titled The Batman.
And, we think he’s the perfect dude for the job. With a resume that includes the recent Planet of the Apes reboot films and Cloverfield, Reeves clearly knows how to masterfully handle big, sprawling, and largely digital action scenes. A lot of studios have been handing their franchises over to indie directors. Reeves breaks from the trend with The Batman by being someone already familiar with handling complicated, studio-approved affects.
Of course, we’re not casting a blind eye over the fact that Reeves is another white man, taking a job in a lineage of white men who’ve done so. While DC’s upcoming Wonder Woman will be under the helm of Patty Jenkins, she and whoever tackled Marvel’s Captain Marvel will remain outliers. And, they’ll be taking those jobs in part because of the identity of their protagonists.
We’d love to see a woman and/or a director of color take over a white male protagonist’s story. This isn’t a ding to Reeves, whose qualifications make him a sensible franchise inductee. But with future superheroic director postings, let’s see studios try something really super: Giving the industry’s still-marginalized folks a shot behind the camera.
