MOVIE NEWS – The success of The Flash has reportedly determined whether Warner Bros. will continue its highly anticipated DC project with the fan-favourite actor.
As the final film in the DCEU, much was riding on The Flash. Not just in terms of the success or failure that would warrant a reboot but also in terms of whether Warner Bros. Discovery would reportedly greenlight Batman Beyond, presumably with Michael Keaton as Batman.
Keaton had a bright future as Batman after the new Flash under the previous Warner Bros. regime. But after the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, that future, among many others, was short-lived. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav led the cancellation of the Batgirl movie. It would have starred Keaton as Batman. Since then, other Batman appearances have been cancelled.
However, as far as Batman Beyond is concerned, there seem to be conflicting reports from all sides about what the future holds.
In December 2022, industry insiders reported that Batman Beyond was shelved indefinitely after the Discovery merger. However, as explained in the Fatman Beyond podcast, Kevin Smith told us that he ran into Michael Uslan’s son at the premiere of The Flash. He reportedly learned that Batman Beyond might be riding on the film’s opening weekend box office success. The film’s producer, Michael Uslan, bought the rights to Batman. Since then, he has been on the cast list of every Batman film from Batman (1989) to The Batman. At the premiere, Michael Uslan’s son told Smith that his father was not at the premiere because he was watching the real-time grosses of The Flash. According to the producer’s son, WBD would have given the go-ahead for Batman Beyond if the new Flash had box office numbers on par with last year’s Batman in its opening weekend.
The next day Uslan denied these rumours, stating on Instagram that “this is not an accurate story at all”. But The Flash’s opening weekend wasn’t even close to The Batman’s box office numbers. In fact, it even underperformed against projections.
So Uslan was forced to retract statements that should never have been publicly shared.
The Batman Beyond sequel is up to the fans. After all, the character has been underused since his creation. Although, seeing as The Flash reintroduces Keaton’s Batman to the public, now would be a great time to make a movie. Especially with the new Flash opening up the DC multiverse. So within the DC canon, different timelines of different versions coexist in the film. Batman Beyond Keaton, preferably directed by Tim Burton, would still be worth considering for WBD. But the financial success of the new Flash would help its chances in the long run.
