The Batman

[GeneChing]

Kung Fu (http://www.martialartsmart.com/kung-fu-tai-chi-shaolin-styles.html) & katanas (http://www.martialartsmart.com/ninja-samurai-kendo-samurai-kendo-weapon.html) are trending again. :rolleyes:


Joe Manganiello taking up Kung fu and katana training for The Batman (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/fashion-beauty/joe-manganiello-taking-up-kung-fu-and-katana-training-for-the-batman-35518614.html)
March 10 2017

http://cdn-03.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/fashion-beauty/article35518613.ece/466b3/AUTOCROP/h342/cover_media_cmg4c6dee06-3fe1-4c28-8c79-0ccae02021d7_0
Joe Manganiello
The star is more strong and fit at 40 than ever before.

Actor Joe Manganiello is mastering the art of Kung fu and training with katanas in preparation for his role as Deathstroke in forthcoming movie The Batman.

A start date for filming Ben Affleck's comic book adaptation has yet to be set, but the Magic Mike star will be ready once cameras do start rolling, after taking lessons in various martial arts to portray the supervillain.

"My trainer and I have started putting together some workouts that are specific to the character and how I want the character to move," he reveals to Robert Irvine Magazine. "It's an incredibly athletic role so all of the training is very functional. I've also started Kung fu and chi gung training, and I've also started working with katanas."

Asked how the new fighting skills are coming along, he replies, "I'm gonna be ready."

Joe is working with top trainer Ron Mathews, a four-time champion at the challenging CrossFit Games event, to put him through his paces, and the actor admits the 47-year-old is one of his main fitness inspirations after turning 40 in December (16).

With Ron's help, the star has found himself stronger than ever before, despite his advancing age.

"I can go harder than I've ever gone in the past in terms of cardio, the intensity is ratcheted up probably times 10," he explains. "I'm lifting heavier than I ever was. I am constantly achieving new heights in terms of max."

"I'm more mindful in terms of taking care of myself," Joe notes of the differences in his workouts now compared to over a decade ago. "I'm definitely more mindful in terms of nutrition, proper rest. As far as physical or muscular maturity, I love this period of my life, this particular age."

[GeneChing]

I copied the post above from our Celebrities studying martial arts (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?41233-Celebrities-studying-martial-arts&p=1300594#post1300594) thread. I figure we'll come back to this one as the project progresses.

Here's the Batman vs Superman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?66531-Batman-vs-Superman) thread.

[GeneChing]

‘The Batman’ To Fly In Summer 2021; Ben Affleck Passes The Torch To Next Generation Of Bruce Wayne (https://deadline.com/2019/01/the-batman-june-2021-release-date-ben-affleck-not-starring-1202545821/)
by Anthony D'Alessandro
January 30, 2019 4:33pm

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/bvs-100.jpg?w=446&h=299&crop=1
Warner Bros

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. is dating their next rendition of Batman for June 25, 2021. This is the one that Matt Reeves has been attached to as writer and director. Ben Affleck, we hear, will not be donning the Dark Knight’s tights after playing the Caped Crusader in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad and Justice League and that’s because this movie will focus on a younger Bruce Wayne.

Reeves boarded Batman in February 2017, taking over for Affleck who was originally set to direct off a script he wrote with DC’s Geoff Johns. Affleck, we understand has a busy plate: As Deadline exclusively broke he is starring in and producing the feature adaptation of Kate Alice Marshall‘s novel I Am Still Alive, which Universal won in a competitive bidding scenario. The two-time Oscar winner is also starring in the Warner Bros.’ Gavin O’Connor drama Torrance. Affleck worked hard on The Batman story, but knew he wasn’t the right one for this particular version. A search is underway for a new Dark Knight.

The Batman will not be based on Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One comic which is one of Reeves’ favorites in the Caped Crusader canon.

Affleck tweeted about the news:


Ben Affleck
✔
@BenAffleck
Excited for #TheBatman in Summer 2021 and to see @MattReevesLA vision come to life.

Deadline Hollywood
✔
@DEADLINE
‘The Batman’ To Fly In Summer 2021; Ben Affleck Passes The Torch To Next Generation Of Bruce Wayne https://deadline.com/2019/01/the-batman-june-2021-release-date-ben-affleck-not-starring-1202545821/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter …

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DyMyBLvUUAE_TQe?format=jpg&name=small
43.2K
4:43 PM - Jan 30, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
17.1K people are talking about this


I hope they don't re-do the creation myth again. We all know that. Just get on with it.

[GeneChing]

He'll always be Cedric (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/index.php?p=article&article=978) to me. :p


MAY 31, 2019 8:03AM PT
Robert Pattinson Is Officially ‘The Batman (https://variety.com/2019/film/news/robert-pattinson-batman-1203230054/)’
By DAVE MCNARY
Film Reporter
@Variety_DMcNary

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/robert-pattinson.jpg?w=1000&h=562&crop=1
CREDIT: BRIAN ACH/INVISION/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK

Robert Pattinson is officially the new Batman.

Warner Bros. has closed a deal for the “Twilight” actor to play the Caped Crusader in “The Batman.”

Matt Reeves’ superhero tentpole hits theaters on June 25, 2021. Variety first reported on May 16 that Pattinson was in negotiations for the part. The studio confirmed on Friday that he had signed a deal.

Pre-production on the Warner Bros.-DC Comics pic is expected to start this summer. No official start date has been set for filming “The Batman.”

Reeves, the filmmaker behind the last two “Planet of the Apes” sequels, assumed “Batman” directing duties from Ben Affleck in January 2017. Reeves will produce “The Batman” with his “Planet of the Apes” collaborator Dylan Clark.

Affleck starred as Batman in two titles directed by Zack Snyder: 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and 2017’s “Justice League.” Both films received mixed reviews and were a disappointment for Warner Bros. in its efforts to compete with Marvel Studios in the superhero realm.

Pattinson became a star following the breakout success of the five-film “Twilight” franchise, in which he portrayed the vampire Edward Cullen opposite Kristen Stewart’s Bella Swan.

Pattinson is starring with John David Washington in Christopher Nolan’s latest film, “Tenet,” set to open July 17, 2020. He toplines “The Lighthouse,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and appeared in Claire Denis’ “High Life,” “The King” for Netflix and “Waiting for the Barbarians.”

He is repped by WME, the Curtis Brown Group and 3 Arts Entertainment.

Which reminds me - whatever happened to Taylor Lautner (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57648-Finally!-A-Twilight-Saga-thread)?

[GeneChing]

Wonder if Pattinson will take up Keysi (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?22534-Keysi-Fighting-Method)?


JUNE 04, 2019 6:00am PT by Borys Kit
"Quick" Debates and Secret Screen Tests: How Robert Pattinson Became Batman (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/how-robert-pattinson-became-batman-1215438)
Director Matt Reeves, who picked the 'Twilight' star over Nicholas Hoult, is said to have screen-tested both actors in a Batsuit from a previous Caped Crusader film.

https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale_crop_768_433/2018/01/RobertPattinson_Damsel0055H2018THR.jpg
Austin Hargrave
Robert Pattinson

Director Matt Reeves, who picked the 'Twilight' star over Nicholas Hoult, is said to have screen-tested both actors in a Batsuit from a previous Caped Crusader film.
Two weeks ago, a black jacket-clad Robert Pattinson faced flashbulbs and reporters at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of his period drama, The Lighthouse. When one guest approached him at the reception and said, “I heard you were the new Batman,” he offered only a sly smile and stayed mum.

In reality, Pattinson was not the Caped Crusader…just yet. Hours after his Cannes duties in designer duds, he would be on a plane to Los Angeles to face perhaps the biggest test of his acting career: putting on a Batsuit for director Matt Reeves, who is casting The Batman.

That test was officially passed Friday, when Warner Bros. announced that Pattinson had won the role. The decision was the culmination of an intense process that insiders describe as surprisingly quick. As opposed to most superhero casting efforts, which often include far-and-wide searches and dozens of screen tests for the likes of Superman or more recently, Spider-Man, the Batman process was notably smooth.

“It was quick,” says one Warners insider. “Quicker than normal.”

Reeves, who was hired to write and direct a new Batman movie in February 2017, was envisioning actors while penning the script, according to sources familiar with the filmmaker’s thinking. It helped that this new Batman needed to conform to a defined age bracket. He is written as around 30 years old, and the story is neither another rehashing of his origin nor the tale of a seasoned crimefighter ruling Gotham City. He is Bruce Wayne still trying to find his footing on his way to becoming the genius detective.

This, of course, eliminated Ben Affleck, as THR first reported back in July 2017. (Affleck and Warner Bros. denied the recasting at the time because the actor, who had played the role in Batman v Superman and Justice League, was to have headlined his own stand-alone movie that was sidelined when the studio began rethinking its superhero strategy.)

Reeves is said to have considered Pattinson, 33, early on in the process, says one source, even though no outreach was made. Reeves didn’t even know if the actor wanted the part. Since Pattinson shot to fame as a heartthrob vampire in the Twilight films, he has built a solid résumé in smaller, well-reviewed independent films like Good Time and Maps to the Stars. He has assiduously avoided big studio franchise films.

But that fact actually made him more attractive to Reeves and the executive team at Warner Bros. Specifically, Pattinson has not yet appeared in a Marvel Studios movie, and name-brand actors not working for the DC Comics rival are becoming few and far between. While there are no contract provisions prohibiting Marvel actors from appearing in DC/Warner Bros. movies and vice versa, execs believe that cross-pollination dilutes both brands and can cause confusion for audiences, especially from a marketing point of view.

Nicholas Hoult, 29, who became Pattinson’s chief rival later in the process, had been appearing as Hank McCoy, aka the Beast, in the X-Men movies. But Warners execs didn’t disqualify him because the X-Men flicks are not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, are ensemble in nature and Hoult spent large chunks of those movies unrecognizable as a furry blue mutant.

Reeves is said to have spent hours poring over the two actors’ work and met with them in April. Pattinson has far more name recognition than Hoult, but it was his work in Good Time and High Life, among others, that Reeves kept on coming back to. Hoult, too, had impressed the deliberate filmmaker, known for his thought-provoking work on the Planet of the Apes franchise, with The Favourite this winter.

The two actors in short order became the only contenders, and during the week of May 20, when Pattinson flew in from Cannes, both shot screen tests in costume on the Burbank lot. Each had a pre-negotiated deal in place, ready to go into effect for whoever had the final contingency lifted, the screen test.

Pattinson and Hoult put on a suit from a previous Batman movie, as has become customary in the Bat-test process. (Christian Bale, before landing Batman Begins, performed his test in the suit used by Val Kilmer in 1995’s Batman Forever, for instance.) Did they embody the character? How did their eyes look and act? Is there a specialness to them? Those were the questions Reeves and the studio wanted answered.

“(Reeves) wanted very specific things,” says one insider. “He knew what he was looking for.”

Reeves and Warners execs took the week after Memorial Day to deliberate their choices, and by Thursday night, made the calls to the actors. The Batman who would lead the studio into the 2020s had been found.

Pattinson now moves on to the next stage: getting fitted for his own Batsuit, and training for a shoot that will likely take place in early 2020.


NOT 'another rehashing of his origin' yay

[GeneChing]

Ya know how sometimes there's an actor that you just can not stand. That's Jonah Hill for me. I don't know why. He just bugs me.


SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 3:11PM PT
‘The Batman’: Jonah Hill Eyed for Secret Role Opposite Robert Pattinson (https://variety.com/2019/film/news/jonah-hill-batman-robert-pattinson-1203233352/)
By JUSTIN KROLL
Film Reporter
@https://twitter.com/krolljvar

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/jonah-hill.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1
CREDIT: ADAM BERRY/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
Robert Pattinson’s Batman might have found his first co-star.

Sources tell Variety that Jonah Hill is in talks to join Pattinson in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.” Insiders also say Jeffrey Wright is in talks to play Commissioner Gordon.

According to sources, producers had long wanted Hill for the project, but casting decisions were put on hold until the role of Batman was filled. The deal hasn’t closed and sources say it could still fall apart, but both sides are engaging on Hill joining. As for who Hill is playing, that’s still being worked out as well, but sources say he’s being eyed for a villain role.

Warner Bros. and Hill and Wright’s reps could not be reached for comment.

Pre-production on the Warner Bros.-DC Comics movie is expected to start this summer. No official production start date has been set, although insiders tell Variety that filming could start in late 2019 or early 2020.

Reeves, the filmmaker behind the last two “Planet of the Apes” sequels, assumed “Batman” directing duties from Ben Affleck in January 2017 and has been developing the elusive project ever since. Affleck was in talks to depart his role as Batman following “Justice League,” allowing Reeves to pick his own Bruce Wayne. Reeves’ “Planet of the Apes” collaborator Dylan Clark is also attached as producer.

Hill starred opposite Emma Stone in Netflix’s sci-fi series “Maniac.” The actor has also moved behind the camera in recent years, taking on his first directing job, “Mid90s,” which bowed last fall, before returning to the big screen in Matthew McConaughey’s latest film “Beach Bum.”

Wright was most recently seen in WB’s “The Goldfinch” and stars in HBO’s “Westworld.”

Hill is repped by WME and LBI Entertainment.

[@PLUGO]

By Anthony D'Alessandro


10764
Warner Bros. new The Batman movie has found its Selina Kyle aka Catwoman in Big Little Lies star Zoe Kravitz. Her deal is official. The film directed by Matt Reeves comes out on June 25, 2021.

Kravitz joins Robert Pattinson who has the title role, Jeffrey Wright who is playing Commissioner Gordon and Jonah Hill who is in talks for a villain role.

The actress follows in the path of such great big screen performers who’ve worn the Catwoman black leather suit as Michelle Pfeiffer, Anne Hathaway and Halle Berry, the latter who starred in a Warner Bros. standalone pic with the villain’s name. On the Gotham TV series, Kyle was played by Cameron Bicondova, and going way back to The Batman 1960s series, those who meowed included Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, and Eartha Kitt. The character, whose choice of weapon is a bullwhip, made her first appearance as “The Cat” in Batman #1 in the spring of 1940 and is known as having a complex love-hate relationship with the Dark Knight.

Kravitz boasts a big resume with feature credits that include Mad Max Fury Road, the Fantastic Beasts franchise, the Divergent franchise, X-Men: First Class, and the The Lego Batman Movie in which she played…yes, Catwoman (and all Batman fans know who Kyle is). Kravitz’s TV credits include Hulu’s High Fidelity, Big Little Lies as Bonnie Carlson, the woman with a guilty conscience and Showtime’s Californication. Kravitz has been performing music since she was 16, most recently fronting the band Lolawolf which released the album Calm Down in 2014. Last year, she was featured on the Janelle Monae song “Screwed” on the latter’s album Dirty Computer. She was also featured on “Anti-Social Smokers Club” on Rae Sremmurd’s third album SR3MM.

Mattson Tomlin and Reeves co-wrote the script for The Batman. Dylan Clark and Reeves produce. Michael E. Uslan is EP. Production begins in January in London, UK.

[GeneChing]

Colin Farrell In Talks To Play Penguin, Rounding Out ‘The Batman’ Villain Trio (https://deadline.com/2019/11/colin-farrell-the-penguin-batman-movie-cast-1202766532/)
By Mike Fleming Jr
November 5, 2019 1:37pm

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/cannes_film_festival_portraitsday87113select-copy.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is negotiating with Colin Farrell to play The Penguin in the Matt Reeves-directed The Batman. If the deal closes, he will round out the trio of villains going against Rob Pattinson’s Caped Crusader, with Paul Dano as The Riddler and Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman.

The Irish-born actor has turned in an array of performances in very different films that include Dumbo, Widows, Roman J. Israel Esq, The Lobster and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and has dialed up the intensity in a superhero villain role before when he menaced Ben Affleck’s Daredevil character in the showy role of Bullseye, years ago.

The Penguin was played by Danny DeVito in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns in 1992.

Farrell is repped by CAA
This cast is starting to lose me...:o

[GeneChing]

So is Keysi (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?22534-Keysi-Fighting-Method) passe for crime figthin? :p


Actor Robert Pattinson Is Training Jiu-Jitsu For His Role As Batman (https://www.jiujitsutimes.com/actor-robert-pattinson-is-training-jiu-jitsu-for-his-role-as-batman/?fbclid=IwAR1AxQ0CwA_ng_fuVuYqOhsTS7XzPMNAsKhVqxI4 _QBG-Tbf2T1RPWIRMV4)
By Averi Clements -November 4, 2019

https://www.jiujitsutimes.com/wp-content/uploads/pattinson1.jpg

Robert Pattinson is perhaps best known for his role as Edward Cullen in the Twilight franchise, but in 2021, we’ll be seeing him put on the Batsuit. Pattinson will be starring as the titular character in The Batman, which is currently in pre-production. And in order to prepare for the role, he’s been working on his ground game by training BJJ with Rigan Machado.

Machado first revealed that he was training the Remember Me actor for his superhero role with an Instagram post that simply said, “Batman is coming.”

Yesterday, Machado shared even more photos of Pattinson training jiu-jitsu, and it seems like the actor is working hard to ensure that his ground game is worthy of a hero of Batman’s status.

Pattinson may not be able to give black belts a run for their money on the mats (yet), but this isn’t the first time he’s trained jiu-jitsu. Back in 2017, he took some photos that showed that he was training with Machado in the gi. It’s unclear if he’s been a consistent student all this time or only drops in every now and then, but it’s great to see him returning to continue his BJJ journey.

Machado is known as the guy to go to if you’re a celebrity who wants to learn to grapple. Just last week, he promoted another one of his famous students, Ashton Kutcher, to the rank of brown belt in BJJ.

THREADS
Celebrities studying martial arts? (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?41233-Celebrities-studying-martial-arts)
The Batman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70147-The-Batman)

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpwVhGTnx_A&feature=emb_logo

[GeneChing]

QUARANTINE LOCKDOWN
Source: Robert Pattinson Has COVID-19, Halting The Batman Production (https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/09/09/robert-pattinson-the-batman-coronavirus)
Vanity Fair has learned from a well-placed source that the star came down with the virus just days after shooting resumed.
BY ANTHONY BREZNICAN
SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

https://media.vanityfair.com/photos/5f36ca47f51ed31274cdfb60/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/batman-robert-pattinson.jpg
Robert Pattinson's first look for The Batman.
Robert Pattinson is said to have tested positive for the coronavirus, causing filming of The Batman to be halted just days after the superhero drama resumed work at studios outside of London.

Warner Bros. would not comment on any individual worker’s health, sharing only this statement: “A member of The Batman production has tested positive for Covid-19, and is isolating in accordance with established protocols. Filming is temporarily paused.” Vanity Fair confirmed through a highly placed source that Pattinson was the individual who became sick.

The production previously shut down, along with most other entertainment industry work, back in March when the quarantine lockdown first hit.

Pattinson’s representative did not immediately return a request for comment.

In the new movie, directed by Planet of the Apes filmmaker Matt Reeves, Batman is in his second year of vigilantism, and is trying to solve a series of gruesome serial killings. The case causes him to cross paths with Paul Dano’s The Riddler, Zoë Kravitz’s Selina Kyle (before she becomes the criminal Catwoman), and the underworld figure Oswald Cobblepot, nicknamed The Penguin behind his back, played by Colin Farrell.

Jeffrey Wright co-stars as Commissioner James Gordon, Andy Serkis plays Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler Alfred, and John Turturro is the gangster Carmine Falcone.

“It’s a criminological experiment. He’s trying to figure out what he can do to finally change this place. You see that he’s charting what he’s doing, and he’s seeing he isn’t having any of the effect that he wants to have yet,” Reeves said recently at the DC Fandome event that revealed the new trailer. “The murders start to happen, and the murders start to describe a history of Gotham. It only reinforces what he knows about Gotham, but opens up a whole world of corruption that went much further.”

The movie is planned for release in 2021.

This story has been updated with new information.

threads
The-Batman (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70147-The-Batman)
covid (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?71666-Coronavirus-(COVID-19)-Wuhan-Pneumonia)

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY2RzayWqC8

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJmEaYsLYB8

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u34gHaRiBIU

[GeneChing]

By BEATRICE TAMAGNO 2 hours ago
Move Over, Spider-Man: “The Batman” Secures China Theatrical Release (https://radiichina.com/the-batman-release-china/)
The Batman has scored a significant victory in the war between DC and Marvel’s superhero IPs: getting a theatrical release in the Chinese mainland. The darkest reimagining of DC’s iconic Dark Knight to date will hit Chinese theaters on March 18, just over two weeks after debuting in South Korea on March 2.

Released on March 4 in the U.S., The Batman is already breaking box office records and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from audiences.


Directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson, the nearly three-hour-long movie is expected to be a box office hit in China.

More than 75,300 fans have added the film to their watch list on Douban, a database and user review platform similar to IMDb, and the related hashtag on Weibo has amassed more than 770 million views.

https://radiichina.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/the-batman-china-release-2022-768x507.jpg
Jeffrey Wright and Robert Pattinson in The Batman. Image via IMDb

Such enthusiasm does not come unjustified.

Superhero fans in China have been left empty-handed over the past 12 months, as none of the last five Marvel blockbusters — Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Spider-Man: No Way Home — made it past regulators.

China has become more selective in recent years when it comes to importing Western movies as its domestic film pool grows bigger.

The Chinese government has a quota of 34 foreign movies that are allowed to be screened every year, although the percentage of Hollywood films in the import allowance has dropped over the past few years — from 47% in 2019 to 39% in 2021.

https://radiichina.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/the-batman-china-release-2022-1-768x437.jpg
Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz in The Batman. Image via IMDb

Another reason to anticipate the box office success of The Batman in China is that the film will be released only weeks after its debut overseas. The narrow time window will presumably make it hard for Chinese fans to find pirated copies online before the official release in the country.

The movie’s production company, Warner Bros., has also announced that The Batman will not be distributed online, on HBO Max, until April 18.

Other foreign titles that secured a Chinese release in 2022 so far include Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York, Disney’s Death on the Nile, and Matrix Resurrections. Look out The Battle at Lake Changjin II (https://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?72238-The-Battle-at-Lake-Changjin-2-Water-Gate-Bridge). The Batman may dethrone you...

[GeneChing]

Mar 7, 2022 9:51am PT
Moviegoer Disrupts ‘The Batman’ Screening After Releasing Live Bat Inside Movie Theater (https://variety.com/2022/film/news/moviegoer-releases-bat-movie-theater-the-batman-screening-1235197928/)

By Zack Sharf

https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/The-Batman-08.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Courtesy of Warner Bros/Everett Collection
A screening of Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” was disrupted on opening night Friday at the Moviehouse & Eatery by Cinépolis in Austin, Texas, after a moviegoer released a live bat inside the theater. Annelise Holyoak, a spokesperson at Cinépolis, confirmed the news with CBS Austin and said the moviegoer was pulling a prank and not trying to actively harm anyone.

“Local animal control was immediately contacted, and they have been overseeing the situation to ensure guest, associate and animal safety,” Holyoak said in a statement. “To ensure a prank like this does not again occur, we’ve added additional security and are checking all bags upon guest entry.”

Video of the prank shared with CBS Austin showed movie theater staff explaining to guests how they planned to get the bat out of the theater. One staff member is heard saying, “We will use the projector to turn that [movie screen] light off and I’m gonna turn all these lights off and try and get it to go into this lighted [exit] area. If you are uncomfortable being in the dark with a bat, please remove yourself now.”

Moviegoers in attendance at “The Batman” screening were offered full refunds because of the prank. The theater said that the majority of viewers in attendance decided to stay and finish the film with the bat still in the theater.

“The Batman” started its box office run in the U.S. with a sturdy $134 million, above original estimates of $128.5 million. Those ticket sales rank as the best opening of 2022, as well as only the second pandemic-era movie to cross the $100 million mark in a single weekend following “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Internationally, “The Batman” earned $120 million from 74 overseas market for a total global haul of $254 million after its first weekend in release.

I probably would've stayed.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w8LS1wj3J8

[GeneChing]

Mar 13, 2022 8:28pm PT
China Box Office Slips to Lowest Weekend of the Year as COVID Resurfaces (https://variety.com/2022/film/asia/china-box-office-lowest-weekend-of-the-year-1235203899/)

By Patrick Frater
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Movie-Theater-Exhibition-Crisis-Covid-19-Placeholder-2.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
©Raymond Depardon / Magnum Photo
Mainland China’s theatrical box office slipped to its lowest weekend total of the year as the market suffered a combination of rising COVID cases and a lack of new releases.

Nationwide box office between Friday and Sunday amounted to just $19.2 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. It was the fifth weekend of decline since the splashy opening of eight major titles on Feb. 1 for the Lunar New Year holidays.

“The Battle at Lake Changjin II,” which dominated proceedings at New Year, remained at the top of the chart for the sixth consecutive weekend. It earned a lowly $4.6 million over three days for a cumulative total of $635 million.

Recent days have witnessed a surge in coronavirus cases in China that has caused the return of restrictions in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen as well as epicenters Jilin and Changchun in the Northeast.

On Sunday, mainland authorities reported a total of 3,100 new locally transmitted cases of the disease in people who have symptoms and those who do not (China’s official count does not include asymptomatic cases as confirmed) and started to allow the results of rapid antigen tests in its data set. These are the highest daily figures in China in two years.

China is operating a zero-COVID policy which entails largely closed borders, mass vaccination and localized lockdowns. Mainland China has reported 112,000 infections since the beginning of the outbreak in January 2020 and 4,635 deaths. Some 1.24 billion people have received at least one vaccination shot.

It has been reported locally that some cinemas in Shanghai and Shenzhen were closed in response to the latest spikes. But a nationwide closure of movie theaters, like the five and a half month disruption in 2020, has so far been avoided.

Another factor in the slumping box office is likely to be a continuing shortage of major new films. The weekend’s highest new entry was the fourth-placed “Do You Love Me As I Love You?”. The film is a Taiwan-produced romance that released in other Chinese-speaking parts of Asia in the third quarter of 2020.

Monday sees the release in China of “Uncharted,” timed to give it a shot at the one day Qingming festival. And, if COVID conditions do not cause widespread cinema closures, Friday will see the release of “The Batman.”


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‘The Batman’ Headed for Weak China Opening Amid COVID Outbreak, Cinema Closures (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/china-box-office-the-batman-covid-1235112446/)
Amid fraught geopolitics and virus-related release challenges, Hollywood studio films are earning a fraction of past China grosses.

BY PATRICK BRZESKI, KAREN CHU
MARCH 15, 2022 8:27PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Batman-Still-1-Publicity-H-2021.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
The Batman COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES™ & DC COMICS
Hollywood can’t seem to catch a break in China lately. Just as U.S. studio tentpoles were beginning to return to the country at scale, a COVID outbreak spanning two thirds of China’s provinces is shuttering cinemas and casting a pall over local consumer activity all over again.

Approximately 30 percent of all Chinese movie theaters have been temporarily closed over the past week, according to exhibition industry consultancy Artisan Gateway. The regions hardest hit include major population centers like Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Locally transmitted COVID cases rose on Tuesday by more than 5,000 new infections nationwide. While low by Western standards, the current outbreak represents China’s largest caseload since the pandemic first emerged in Wuhan in 2020. Local officials are scrambling to maintain their “COVID zero” policy of total eradication of the virus, resorting to their usual playbook of mass mandatory testing and the total shutdown of cities comprising tens of millions of residents.

If Beijing leaders fail to get a handle on the infection surge soon, economists warn that China’s growing response could result in major supply chain snarls in the world’s manufacturing base, further jeopardizing the global economic recovery.

Within the movie sector, box office analysts had been looking forward to the China release of Warner Bros’ The Batman on Friday for some indication of the country’s current appetite for U.S. superhero fare. A source close to the film, however, tells The Hollywood Reporter that the latest tracking suggests an opening of just $15 million to $20 million, down from earlier projections in the $25 million to $30 million range.

“Our optimistic assessment is that Warners will be lucky if The Batman opens above RMB 100 million ($15.7 million),” adds James Li, co-founder of Beijing-based film industry market research firm Fanink, which has been tracking the title. “On the pessimistic side, they may be lucky to get half that,” he says. “There are four tier-one cities in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen), and these are the major markets where moviegoers tend to be the most pro-Hollywood — and half of them are currently shut down.”

Domestically, The Batman has earned $245 million, with the worldwide total sitting at about $472 million.

Director Matt Reeves’ take on Gotham’s dark knight is somber in tone and runs nearly three hours long, hence the rather modest original sales expectations. But the film will be the first U.S. superhero movie to open in China in nearly a year and half, after local regulators passed on the release of the last five Marvel tentpoles (Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home) due to suspected political reasons. Hopes were high that The Batman might give the studios some hint of their former glory in the massive China market.

Sony and Tom Holland’s Uncharted is similarly struggling in China amid the theater closures and diminished interest in U.S. moviemaking. The action adventure film has earned $114 million in North America and $302 million worldwide so far. But it has brought in just $4.5 million in China since its opening on Monday and local ticketing app Maoyan projects it to finish locally with just $13.2 million.

Chinese consumers’ declining enthusiasm for U.S. moviemaking is becoming increasingly unmistakable. After a decade of pulling in enormous blockbuster grosses from China, the only Hollywood films to earn over $100 million in the country in the past two years plus were Legendary Entertainment’s Godzilla Versus Kong and Universal’s F9: The Fast Saga. Meanwhile, more than 20 Chinese titles have sailed past the $100 million mark during that same period, and the very biggest local blockbusters have earned more than $500 million a piece.

Other upcoming Hollywood titles headed to China in the weeks ahead include Roland Emmerich’s disaster action film Moonfall (March 25), Sony’s animation sequel Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (April 3) and Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (April 8).

“Over the past two years, the Hollywood brand has definitely taken a hit in China — for a variety of reasons related to supply, the actions of authorities and local market dynamics,” says Li. “It’s going to take some time and strong marketing effort to re-engage Chinese consumers around the Hollywood brand.”

There is some concern in the mainland Chinese industry that the plight of neighboring Hong Kong could foreshadow what’s to come if health officials aren’t able to tamp down the current COVID outbreak soon.

The omicron variant arrived in Hong Kong near the start of the year and local cinemas were closed on January 7 as infection caseloads skyrocketed. The suspension came on the heels of a strong box-office recovery in the semi-autonomous city, with Spider-Man: No Way Home taking more than $14 million in just two weeks in December 2021. A month after cinemas were ordered to suspend business, two major multiplexes – Broadway Hollywood and Cinema City Victoria – announced their permanent closure as their leases ended. Although the box office returns in Hong Kong in 2021 showed 125 percent growth compared to 2020, from $69 million to $155 million in total sales, the latest outbreak has decimated the local exhibition business. The theater industry missed out on the lucrative Lunar New Year holiday season in February, and the Hong Kong releases of West Side Story, Death on the Nile and The Batman, originally scheduled for January, February and March 2022, respectively, were all scrapped. The local government has indicated that reopening theaters won’t be considered until at least April 20.

Pamela McClintock contributed to this report.

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