Photo: Courtesy of Warner Brothers. It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a one-year delay. Last night Warner Bros. announced that the tentatively titled Batman vs. Superman movie will be pushed back from the summer of 2015 to the summer of 2016. The news comes as a surprise, since filming had already begun.
The official cause of the delay, according to the studio, is to "allow the filmmakers time to realize fully their vision, given the complex visual nature of the story." While this may be true to some degree, we think there might be other factors at play.
That Warner Bros. decided to break the news on the eve of a long weekend implies that it wanted it buried. Any kind of delay for a major studio tentpole is never a good thing. Especially since the Zack Snyder-directed Man of Steel sequel had already begun filming.
There was also a rumor that Ben Affleck, who plays Batman in the film, had injured his leg, causing the delay, but those were quickly dispelled after he was recently seen walking with his family in L.A. Another reason might be next year's crowded schedule, with Marvel's one-two punch of Ant-man and the sure-to-be-massive Avengers sequel both scheduled for release. Instead, Batfleck and co. will be going up against X-Men: Apocalypse, two years from now, in what should be a box-office showdown for the ages.
Whether or not new reasons for the unexpected delay will emerge remains to be seen. But, those of us who couldn't wait to find out what actor would finally be cast as Lex Luthor, or what Affleck would look like in the cape and cowl, will just have to wait. (Variety)