James Gunn addresses ‘The Batman 2’ delay, says 5-year gap or more fairly common in sequels

Los Angeles, Dec 29 (PTI) DC Studios head James Gunn defended a five-year gap between “The Batman” movies, saying it’s common for the sequels of big-budget movies to have lengthy gaps in between.

His comments come after he announced on Friday that director Matt Reeves’ sequel to his 2022 film “The Batman” was postponed by a year — from October 2, 2026, to October 1, 2027.

The development led to a section of fans online criticising the studio over the delay in the part two of the movie, starring Robert Pattinson in the title role.

“To be fair, a 5 year gap or more is fairly common in sequels. 7 years between ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens.’ 14 years between ‘Incredibles.’ 7 years between the first two ‘Terminators.’ 13 years between ‘Avatars.’ 36 years between ‘Top Guns.’ And, of course, 6 years between ‘Guardians Vol 2’ and ‘Vol 3’,” Gunn wrote on Threads.

The filmmaker, also known for directing Marvel Studios’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” film franchise as well as “The Suicide Squad” from the erstwhile DC Films, previously confirmed the delay in the release of “The Batman”.

In an earlier Threads post, Gunn said “the only reason the film was pushed” was because a “full script” was yet to be completed.

“Matt is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write. Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films (sic)” he wrote.

Gunn is awaiting the release of his “Superman” film. Starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, the film is slated to hit the big screens on July 11, 2025.