Looks like Ben Affleck directing the next Batman movie: http://io9.com/ben-affleck-will-dire...joh-1716901328

Firsties!!!!1!

Should be interesting. I like Affleck as a director quite a bit but I'm still not sure if I'm sold on him as Batman. Not that I think he'll be bad just definitely wouldn't have been my first choice.

To be fair, he wasn't Warner's first (or second) choice. IIRC, they wanted to get Bale back and he turned it down and then Karl Urban was up for it but he had to turn it down because he was doing that Fox show, "Almost Human" which of course was cancelled after one season...

Urban would have been good in my opinion. I feel like Affleck is too mainstream for the role even though I don't mind him and do think he's gotten better as an actor. I also still think there might be a problem for me at least of looking past that its him in the role as I don't always necessarily get lost in his performances.

any chance the op can change the title to El Batman?

Ugh.

I didn't know that. That decision may go down as one of the most boneheaded decisions in Hollywood history.

Of course he may have already been contractually obligated to Fox but still...

That's about where I'm at... my interest in this is mostly on him writing/directing. Looking forward to the behind the scenes extras with him coming over to look at the shots while in the batsuit...

http://time.com/3952425/ben-affleck-...e-direct-star/

I think Affleck will do fine as both Wayne and Bats but he's still Ben Affleck

I'm fairly sure it was a contract issue as well as just time. OTOH, maybe he wasn't that interested either. Who knows. Remember, Matt Damon turned down the chance to play Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight.

As for The Batman, I'd like to see some kind of appearance from Hush.

You're trying too hard.

I don't get it.

Is Ben Affleck Latino?

I don't get it either.

So what's the soonest a standalone Batman movie with Ben could come out 2018? 2019? Is Ben contracted to do the Justice League movie too?

From what I've read, the Justice League movie will come out before this one.

That's my understanding as well since the story mentions dealing with the aftermath of events occurring in BvS and JL. I assume it'll be release in between the JL movies. If this story is true, about when it'll occur, I can see Warner pushing The Flash back (or maybe just delay it all together) and put The Batman in a slot in 2018.

Not sure about the whole timing as scheduling for Affleck is going to be insane. Once he's done making Live By Night, maybe early/mid 2016 depending on when the script is done, he might get a short break before going into filming Justice League Part One and somewhere in that filming, might be in pre-production for The Batman.

Between X Men, Wolverine, Gambit, Deadpool, Spider-man, Ant-Man, Thor, Captain America, Nick Fury, Avengers: Infinity War 1&2 Batman vs Superman, Batman ,The Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Justice League 1&2, Fantastic Four and all the individual sequels, I think the bottom is gonna fall out on comic book movies at some point in the next 2 years and half of these won't even get made.

I think that the primary reason we're seeing so many superhero movies now is that about ten years ago the CGI technology finally matured to the point where they were finally able to pull this stuff off. (The first Spider-Man and X-Men films kicked the trend off, and they're pretty primitive special-effects-wise compared to what we have today.) Superheroes are the next level of big loud action films, and audiences are eating it up.

I do, however, think we're looking at a coming glut of spandex with the MCU, the DCCU, and Fox's X-Men universe.

I'm sure that the Marvel movies will continue through Phase III, but I could see them losing audience once the 'big' franchises are exhausted and the actors (RDJ, the Chrises) move on. Will Doctor Strange and Black Panther be able to carry the MCU?

It will be interesting to see how Ant-Man does. If it's a solid hit, then Marvel is pretty much unstoppable at this point. If it flops, then I think they'll soldier on, but it might effect whatever Phase IV plans they have.

DC has, so far, been really cagey with their cinematic universe. It really seems like they're taking baby steps here. Marvel managed six movies in four years, Iron Man to Avengers. It's going to take DC almost three years to get their second movie out.

Unlike Marvel, I think that the DCCU is one flop away from being abandoned. If Suicide Squad flops, then I wouldn't be surprised if their cinematic universe stops with Justice League. Or they'll do what they did with their animated features and it will be all Superman and Batman.

Fox also has a really ambitious slate with their X-Men franchise. X-Men Apocalypse, Deadpool, Wolverine III, Gambit, New Mutants, and X-Force. I wonder how they'll handle these; will Deadpool be branded X-Men: Deadpool, or something since he was a fairly forgettable character in fairly forgettable entry in the X-Men franchise. I know he's popular as hell in the comics, but I don't think he's well known outside of comics readers.

I do believe that, eventually, these things are going to start bombing. The only question is which one is going to be the first? In the grand scheme of things, one movie that shits the bed isn't a huge deal, but these are being sold as franchises, so if Deadpool or Ant-Man or Suicide Squad fails to connect with audiences it could start a domino reaction.

Deadpool
X-Men Apocalypse
Batman vs Superman
Suicide Squad
Captain America Civil War
Doctor Strange
Gambit
Wolverine III
Wonder Woman
Justice League Pt. I
Spider-Man
Guardians of the Galaxy II
Thor Ragnarok
Flash
Aquaman
Avengers Infinity War I
Black Panther
Captain Marvel
Shazam
Cyborg
Avengers Infnity War II
Inhumans
Justice League Pt. II
Green Lantern
X-Force
New Mutants
Batman

That's a whole lot of superhero movies tied to cinematic universes coming out in the next five years...

Since Deadpool is R-rated, I doubt Fox uses the X-men IP to brand it. Don't want to tarnish general perception about the X-men franchise.

It looks like a lot, but there are 19 movies opening in theaters just today.

The problem with these franchise reboots is once you have an actor who plays a great superhero, it is very hard to think of anyone else as them. When I think of Superman, I think of Christopher Reeve. When I think of Batman, I think of Christian Bale. When I think of Spiderman, I think of Tobey Maguire.

Its like making an Indiana Jones movie with someone else playing him other then Harrison Ford.