Moviegoers will have to wait a little longer to return to Gotham City, as Matt Reeves’ follow-up to “The Batman” has been pushed back until 2027. The superhero sequel was originally supposed to open on October 2, 2026, but will now shift a year and open on October 1, 2027, in Imax, Warner Bros. announced on Friday.
That left an opening for Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Tom Cruise‘s upcoming film to hit theaters in 2026, just as the awards season race kicks off. The film, which still lacks a title, will open in Imax on Oct. 2 in the date “The Batman 2” vacated.
Warner Bros. made some additional tweaks to its upcoming release slate, swapping the openings of Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” and Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners.” Now, “Mickey 17,” which stars Robert Pattinson (who plays the Dark Knight in Reeves’ comic book series), will open on March 7, 2025, while “Sinners,” which re-teams Coogler with his “Black Panther” and “Fruitvale Station” star Michael B. Jordan, will shift back to April 18, 2025. That’s the date that “Mickey 17” was originally supposed to debut on, but the new release will allow Bong’s film to play longer in Imax, according to studio sources.
The Cruise and Iñárritu film is shrouded in secrecy, but according to the official logline that Warner Bros. released it follows “the most powerful man in the world” as he “embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.” The all-star cast includes Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde and Riz Ahmed. It’s a change of pace for Cruise who has been busy saving the world in more conventional action films like “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” Iñárritu is a two-time Oscar winner whose credits include “Birdman” and “The Revenant.” The pairing seems like a throwback to Cruise’s earlier career when he teamed up with A-list auteurs like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone and Paul Thomas Anderson.
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“Mickey 17” follows a man (Pattinson), whose job is to die for a living. The cast includes Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun and Toni Collette. The film has had several release date shifts, and was originally intended to hit theaters in spring of 2024.
“Sinners” is a horror film that features Jordan as twin brothers who return home to find “an even greater evil.” The ensemble also includes Hailee Steinfeld, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller and Delroy Lindo. Shifting the date of “Sinners” was partly due to a shortage of post-production facilities to help put the finishing touches on the movie. “Sinners” was shot on film which exacerbated those issues.
“The Batman” debuted in 2022 just as the movie business was shaking off the impact of COVID closures. It earned more than $770 million globally and was praised for its moody, atmospheric take on its title character. The film also inspired the HBO spinoff series “The Penguin.” In a recent sit-down with Zoë Kravitz, who appeared as Catwoman, Reeves said he was finishing the script for the sequel and planned “to be shooting next year.”