Given how Affleck has been openly stating that he wants out of the DCEU and out of the cowl, it's no surprise that Matt Reeves is now actively looking to sign someone else on as Batman.
Variety published a report late last night which details major shifts in Warner's strategy for their comic-book properties. While the report specified that one of the major minds behind it - Jon Berg - is being moved off it, it also detailed how parent company Time Warner has been frustrated with Warner Bros. for bringing back Snyder on several occasions, and pointed to the shrinking box office takings of each DC film.
The most interesting point in Variety's report was some sort of confirmation about the rumours surrounding Ben Affleck's departure from the entire franchise. According to their source, Affleck will star in the standalone Flash movie - but not in Matt Reeves' standalone Batman movie. Variety says that Reeves wants to cast the role "with fresh talent," and names such as Jake Gyllenhaal and Jon Hamm are being pitched as possible replacements.
MovieWeb reported on Gyllenhaal as a possible replacement a few days ago, however their source claims that Warner Bros. was somewhat cool on the idea of him taking over from Affleck. MovieWeb's source also claims that the tactic of Reeves meeting with other actors to play Batman was to get Affleck to sign on for more, but that seems to have backfired as now Reeves is actively seeking another Batman.
As we opined previously, the DC films have all made reasonable amounts of money for Warner Bros. - all except Justice League, which only passed the €1,000,000 mark in Ireland this week. Whether this supposed shakeup of DC has any effect on box office receipts remains to be seen, but it seems clear that things are taking a turn in the fortunes of DC.
Via Variety / MovieWeb