Matt Reeves is back in Gotham. Or rather, Liverpool—which is playing Gotham. You know how these things work.
The Batman Part II officially began production this week, nearly six years after cameras rolled on the first film. That's a long gap, but not surprising given how meticulous Reeves is as a filmmaker. This isn't the kind of superhero franchise that pumps out sequels on an assembly line. Reeves takes his time, and so far, it's paid off.
The first Batman made $770 million worldwide in 2022, which is impressive for a three-hour noir detective story starring an emo Bruce Wayne. More importantly, it proved that audiences will show up for superhero movies that actually have something to say. Reeves treated Gotham like a real place with real problems—corruption, inequality, institutional rot—and made a Batman who was more damaged detective than invincible vigilante.
Robert Pattinson returns as Bruce Wayne, and thankfully, we're past the point where people question whether the Twilight guy can play Batman. He can. He did. He was great. Move on.
What's interesting about Part II is that Reeves now has an entire universe to play in. HBO's The Penguin series with Colin Farrell was a hit. There's an Arkham Asylum show in development. DC has essentially handed Reeves the keys to Gotham and told him to build whatever he wants.
That's a rare position in modern Hollywood. Most superhero franchises are controlled by committees, with studio executives micromanaging every decision to ensure brand consistency. But Reeves has earned autonomy. tried the connected-universe approach with , and it collapsed. They tried the standalone approach with , and it made a billion dollars. Now they're letting filmmakers do their thing.
