Writer director Matt Reeves posted the traditional 'first shot' clapperboard image on June 12, 2026, confirming cameras are rolling on the sequel now slated for October 1, 2027.
Principal photography on The Batman Part II has officially begun, more than four years after the first film arrived in theaters and long after the sequel's release date became a moving target. Writer and director Matt Reeves marked the start with a slate image, the traditional clapperboard used to mark a film's first shot, posted to social media on June 12, 2026, according to Gizmodo's report on the production start.
The sequel is currently scheduled for October 1, 2027, a date that has shifted multiple times since the original film opened in March 2022. Reeves' tweet caption, "Here we go," was self-aware about that history. James Gunn, the head of DC Studios, also shared news of the production start, a familiar pattern for major DC launches.
What the slate confirms is procedural. Cameras are rolling, and a release date is on the books. What it does not confirm is anything about the story, the tone, or the new faces in the cast. Robert Pattinson returns as Bruce Wayne, the role that defined the first film's stark, noir-inflected reboot. Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell are also expected to reprise their roles. The recently announced additions, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Brian Tyree Henry, Charles Dance, and Sebastian Koch, are attached to the project, but the available reporting has not yet identified their characters. Cinematographer Eric Messerschmidt is on the production, disclosed by the slate's photo credit.
For a sequel that has been dated, delayed, and re-dated across more than half a decade, the meaningful question is not whether production has started. It is whether the gap between the slate and the screen finally narrows from here.