The Batman Part II halts filming as director Matt Reeves tends to family matter

Cameras have stopped rolling on The Batman Part II after director Matt Reeves stepped back from the production to deal with a personal family matter, Warner Bros. and DC Studios confirmed Monday.

In a brief statement, the studio described the halt as temporary and said Reeves has DC Studios' full backing, adding that it expects to resume work on the film soon.

The sequel had been shooting in London before the interruption. It is currently scheduled to reach theaters on February 18, 2028, though people close to the production say it's too soon to know whether the break will affect that date, according to Deadline.

The pause is the latest setback for a project that has already been pushed back several times. Warner Bros. originally slated the film for October 2, 2026, then moved it to October 1, 2027, before shifting it again to February 2028. Reeves' first installment, The Batman, opened in March 2022.

Robert Pattinson is back in the cape, joined by returning stars Andy Serkis as Alfred, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, and Jeffrey Wright. The sequel also brings in a slate of newcomers: Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Brian Tyree Henry, Jayme Lawson, Charles Dance, Gil Perez-Abraham and Sebastian Koch.

When the first delay was announced, DC Studios co-chief James Gunn defended the long wait on Threads, arguing that multi-year gaps between blockbuster sequels are nothing unusual. He pointed to franchises such as Alien, The Incredibles, Terminator, Avatar and Top Gun, as well as his own Guardians of the Galaxy films, all of which saw years pass between chapters.

Pattinson, for his part, has teased a sequel that departs noticeably from its predecessor. Speaking to Collider, he called the new film highly ambitious and described it as "a real left turn" from the first, while noting that it still carries some of the original's tone and atmosphere. He said he was eager to see how it comes together.