Warner Bros has made official that Matt Reeves will be the director who relaunches the next iteration of Batman. There were reports this might not happen, but this amounted to a hiccup in negotiations where the studio tried to pay him a salary lower than he could have gotten for doing another movie. While 20th Century Fox would have loved for this to unravel so that it could tie him down for a third Planet Of The Apes installment (pre-buzz on his second film in the series is strong), the studio came to its senses, though I’m not sure it was ever really in doubt.

They’re still figuring out The Batman: Ben Affleck stepped out as director, and some have wondered if he’ll want to be back as the brooding superhero for a new film series, after he plays him in the upcoming Justice League. He and Geoff Johns wrote the original script, and I’ve heard that Chris Terrio did some script work as well. Bottom line is that Reeves seems capable of being that next guy to take the giant leap into the Bat-sphere. So this was a complex deal that factored in the inevitable sequels, as Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan all made and got paid well to helm.

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CAA and 3 Arts and attorney Karl Austen got to the finish line for Reeves.

Here’s the announcement: