‘The Batman’ Flies To 2022 Post ‘Dune’ Drift, ‘Matrix 4’ Moves Up To Christmas 2021, ‘Shazam! 2’ Zaps To 2023 & More WB Changes – Update

Anthony D'Alessandro
·3 min read

UPDATED, 7:20 PM: So we knew that Dune was pushing The Batman of his October 1, 2021 date. The Matt Reeves directed DC reboot will now open on March 4, 2022 (not March 12 as some fanboy site tweeted today).

March 4, Warner Bros. had their big screen version of videogame Minecraft which is now undated. The Batman will compete against an untitled Paranormal Activity movie from Paramount.

Matrix 4 will now debut and move up to Wednesday Dec. 22, 2021 instead of April 1, 2022. That Christmas Eve weekend Matrix 4 will share the marquee with Illumination/Universal’s Sing 2 and Sony’s The Nightingale, both opening Wednesday, and Paramount’s Babylon on Friday.

Other DC feature release date changes, largely production related: Andy Muschietti’s The Flash will go on Nov. 4, 2022 instead of June 3, 2022, David Sandberg’s Shazam! 2 will open on June 2, 2023 in lieu of Nov. 4, 2022 while Black Adam will be temporarily undated off its Dec. 22, 2021 release date. That pic’s star Dwayne Johnson is currently shooting Netflix’s Red Notice in Atlanta, GA and production on Black Adam will begin early next year.

Nov. 4, 2022 is a sticky weekend, so someone will movie as The Flash drops on a frame where Paramount has scheduled Mission: Impossible 8 and Disney and untitled event movie. Shazam! 2 is on a safe weekend, June 2, 2023, as it’s the only wide entry there currently.

In the meantime, WB is keeping Flash‘s old date of June 3, 2022 reserved, while newly RSVPing Aug. 5, 2022.

Wonder Woman 1984 stays on Christmas 2020, exhibitors. Amen.

Previous, 12:31PM: We’re hearing that Warner Bros. release of Legendary’s Dune is no longer going on Dec. 18, rather Oct. 1, 2021. Right now that’s the same release date as Matt Reeves’ The Batman, so we have to figure Warners moves its relaunch of DC’s Dark Knight. The studio hasn’t officially re-dated The Batman yet.

Many in distribution land always believed it was too good to be true for Warners to keep two major tentpoles –one a franchise starter, the other a franchise sequel– within days of each other, given P&A spend, especially with Wonder Woman 1984 still set for Christmas Day.

The news comes in the wake of Cineworld and Regal closing. Exhibitors were informed by the studio to push out Dune materials during Tenet‘s early September debut, which included a teaser trailer as well as the official trailer dropping for the Denis Villeneuve reboot of the Frank Herbert novel; the last version being in 1984, directed by David Lynch.

Villeneuve’s version of Dune stars Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem and Charlotte Rampling among many others.

What’s left among wide releases in December now? 20th Century Studios’ Free Guy on Dec. 11, 20th’s Death on the Nile on Dec. 18, Coming 2 America from Paramount on that same date with Wonder Woman 1984 on Christmas and Universal’s News of the World, followed by Screen Gems’ Escape Room 2 on Dec. 30. Still TBD is whether Sony puts in Constantin’s Monster Hunter in December, which is getting a release abroad in December.

More from Deadline

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.