The Flash's Disappointing Box Office May Have Killed A Batman Beyond Movie With Michael Keaton
One of the big selling points of "The Flash" movie, aside from being the Scarlet Speedster's first ever live-action solo feature, was the fact that it brought back Michael Keaton as Batman for the first time in more than 30 years. The actor, who played the role in Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" as well as 1992's "Batman Returns," suited up once more, donning the cape and cowl to help Barry Allen through a trip through the DC multiverse. It turns out that Keaton was apparently being eyed to star in a "Batman Beyond" movie as a follow-up. Unfortunately, that's probably not going to happen.
It's absolutely no secret now that the much-hyped "The Flash" majorly underperformed at the box office. There are many reasons for that, but Warner Bros. is probably not going to be all that eager to continue any threads from a film that is going to ultimately lose lots and lots of money. But grander plans were apparently in place. According to "Clerks" filmmaker Kevin Smith on a recent episode of his "Fatman Beyond" podcast, a "Batman Beyond" movie starring Keaton would have been on deck if certain financial expectations had been met. The information was related to Smith, albeit indirectly, by longtime "Batman" franchise producer Michael Uslan.
"Michael Uslan's kid ... I saw his kid at the premiere and I said 'Where's your dad?' He goes, 'He's home watching the grosses.' I said, 'Why?' And he goes, 'Because if this movie does as well as "The Batman"' — and Matt Reeves' 'The Batman' opened at $130 million — so he goes, 'If this movie opens as well as "The Batman," then one of the next Batman movies they're going to make is "Batman Beyond" with Michael Keaton."
A movie decades in the making
Sad to say, "The Flash" got nowhere near that benchmark on opening weekend, so the odds of this happening are slim to none. It's far more likely that Warner Bros. will focus on Matt Reeves' "The Batman" sequel and "The Brave and the Bold," which will introduce a new Batman as part of James Gunn and Peter Safran's reboot of the DC Universe. Andy Muschietti, who directed "The Flash," was recently tapped to helm that film.
That having been said, "Batman Beyond" as a nut that the studio has been trying to crack for a long, long time. For those who may not be familiar, the title started as an animated series in 1999 that sees a futuristic version of Gotham City where an elder Bruce Wayne trains a new Batman named Terry McGinnis. Some years ago, there was a plan to have Clint Eastwood star as an old Bruce Wayne in a live-action version of the film that never came to be. More recently, there have been further rumblings of Warner Bros. wanting to get this franchise off the ground on the big screen.
Earlier this year, reports surfaced of an abandoned animated "Batman Beyond" movie that was sort of meant to be an answer to what Sony did with "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." Perhaps more importantly, Christina Hodson, who was one of the writers on "The Flash," had been working on a "Batman Beyond" movie as a starring vehicle for Keaton. At the time, the indication was that the project had been shelved. If Smith is to be believed, however, the "Batman Beyond" film still had life until "The Flash" ticket sales snuffed it out entirely. Alas, this may be one of those white whale projects that never gets its day in the sun.
"The Flash" is in theaters now.