Amazon Wins Out Batman Animated Series By J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves

The animated series Batman: Caped Crusader is said to be heavily inspired by the 1990’s Batman: The Animated Series. Warner Bros. has been on a mission to cut down costs to increase profits and efficiency, so this move comes after the company began approaching third parties to get the series going. Others, such as Netflix and Hulu, also showed interest in the animated series, but it found its home at Amazon Prime Video, where two seasons of the show have already been ordered. It will also reunite creator J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves after they last worked together on Felicity for WB.

The Show

The animated show is a part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s plans for DC. The two were hired by Warner Bros. Discovery to finally put together a comprehensible universe for DC. Everyone was familiar with the chaotic incarnations of DC stories where one director would get fired only to be brought back by his fans and the mind-numbing recasts and cancellations of ambitious projects. With Gunn and Safran in place as DC heads, things are expected to change slowly. 

Interestingly, Amazon is also responsible for streaming WB’s Lord of The Rings movies and will now have the new animated show to boast. Is this a coincidence? Many think not. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has, in fact, promised that there would be more Lord of The Rings movies in the coming years. While Gunn and Safran are trying to build a unified world, some franchises, such as Reeve’s The Batman and films like the Joker franchise, fall outside of this plan. It is more than likely that Batman: Caped Crusader will also be a part of these Elseworld series which won’t be a part of the main universe.

“We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City,” commented Reeves and Abrams, the heads for the upcoming series, “The series will be thrilling, cinematic and evocative of Batman’s noir roots, while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world.” 

Abrams has had a rough few years working for Warner Bros. Discovery. The artist had come up with multiple plans, which were all scrapped because of budgetary restrictions. He had plans to expand the Justice League Dark, which would include characters like Constantine. This idea was scrapped. He also wanted to have more attention-based shows and movies for Constantine and Madame X, both of which were shut down by the company. 

He was also looking forward to Demimonde, which would have been Abrams’ first original series since he worked on Fringe. This came as a move from HBO, who shot the project down because the budget required a total of about $200 million. More than HBO’s budget for House of The Dragon which stood at $125 million.

Now, Gunn and Safran are looking to create a world that includes all stories told in animated shows, video games, and comics as well. Animated shows are and always will be a big point of investment for streamers. Shows like The Boys Presents: Diabolical and Invincible are already doing very well in the Superhero genre so it’s only natural for Amazon to show direct interest in a show that features one of the world’s most popular superhero detectives, The Batman.

While executives have refused to comment, it is confirmed that two seasons have been ordered. No release date has been revealed for the show yet.