Warner Bros is shuffling some release dates for the coming year and beyond in the wake of Christmas. In the most high-profile change, Matt Reeves’ The Batman sequel has shifted from 2 October 2026 to 1 October 2027. Production isn’t scheduled to commence until late summer, and given a visual effects-heavy sequel of this enormity, an autumn 2026 cinema arrival is still very much on the cards. Reeves’ film will also be shown in Imax.
Ironically, Warner Bros already had the first weekend of October 2027 reserved for a DC title.
Reeves’ The Batman was the first Warner Bros box office smash post-Covid after it adopted its day-and-date release plan on Max; the movie made $369.3M domestic and $772M worldwide. It then spawned a Max spin-off series, The Penguin, which is now the world’s third most-watched season in a debut season on HBO or Max, following House of the Dragon and The Last of Us.
The untitled Alejandro González Iñárritu film starring Tom Cruise takes the previously announced 2nd October 2026 date that was reserved for the sequel to The Batman. The production will also be screened in Imax, and it is still the only wide-release major studio title scheduled for that weekend. The Legendary-produced movie, which also stars Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde, and Riz Ahmed, “follows the most powerful man in the world as he goes on a desperate mission to prove he’s humanity’s saviour before the doomsday he’s instigated wipes out all life on Earth.”
Warner Bros remains the record holder for the October opening weekend at the domestic box office with 2019’s Joker, which opened to $96.2M.