THE BATMAN Director Matt Reeves Sets Up a First look Deal at Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery has been making a lot of changes to the studio, and they’ve been gutting certain aspects of it. It seems like every day there’s a new big change or another film or TV series being canceled. Well, The Batman director Matt Reeves and his 6th & Idaho production company have survived.
Reeves is the first filmmaker at the studio that has been given an overall first look film deal since Warner Bros Pictures Group Co-Chairs/CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were hired by Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav to steer the film division.
Reeves has also re-upped with the Warner Bros. Television Group and Chairman Channing Dungey, where he is also working on The Batman spinoff series The Penguin with Colin Farrell as well as the Arkham Asylum series.
According to the report, De Luca and Abdy “hope to see him grow into the kind of cornerstone filmmaker that Todd Phillips has been with The Hangover and Joker franchises, and what Clint Eastwood has been forever at the studio.”
Reeves said in a statement: “Making this legendary studio my home is a dream. I am so excited to be working with Mike, Pam, and Channing and our teams to bring captivating stories I am truly passionate about to the big and small screen.”
De Luca added: “Pam and I gratefully inherited the relationship with Matt from The Batman, and through the beginning stages of planning The Penguin series for HBO Max. We were excited to nail down his overall deal because it’s a cornerstone of what we want to do with the filmmakers that are working at the studio. We want to create an atmosphere where all of these filmmakers can excel and do their work and stay with us once they are inside the Warners family. Keeping Matt and creating a home for him to do more projects in the Batman universe but also originals was very important to us.
“Warners always had a tradition of being a home base for filmmakers, Clint Eastwood being preeminent among them. We want to continue that tradition, especially with people we’ve had success with. We want to create an atmosphere where we get repeat business with these filmmakers. We feel any studio built on the basis of having a roster of filmmakers working at the studio over and over again, is a good business strategy.” Said Abdy: “We see it as just essential for the health of the studio to be a vibrant place for writer/directors, and for signature filmmakers to do multiple movies with us.
“Someone like Matt, we’ll buy for him whatever he wants to do. We’re making an investment for whatever Matt feels a pull toward, in the Batman universe and otherwise. He has an open invitation to go wherever his interests take him. We’ll lean into whatever Matt wants to do. In terms of the writer/directors out there working in this very elevated genre space, with everything Matt’s done, from Let Me In to the Apes trilogy to The Batman, he’s in a class by himself.”
Dungey, Chairman, Warner Bros. Television Group went on to say:“Matt is one of the most imaginative and creative minds in the business. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the wonderful 6th & Idaho team and expanding the world Matt so artfully created with The Batman film through our upcoming series The Penguin.”
Under the terms of the film deal, “Warner Bros. Pictures Group’s production divisions – Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Animation Group and DC-based Films – will have first-look rights to Reeves’ work as a writer, director and/or producer.”
Reeves is a super talented filmmaker, and I have no doubt that we can expect more great things from him over at WB.
Source: Deadline