[Updated] Batman vs. Superman Delay - 3 Possible Reasons

[UPDATE] According to Deadline, production on Batman vs. Superman is set to begin as soon as possible. This doesn't change the delay in the actual release, of course, but it does mean they are trying to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. In my opinion, this supports my third reason on the list.

As you've probably heard, DC/Warner Bros. has decided to push back the upcoming sequel to Man of Steel, which will feature Batman, to May 2016 instead of July 2015. The official statement from Warner Bros. says the delay is to allow the filmmakers "time to fully realize their vision." Yeah, that smells like crap to me too. Some have reported that it's due to an injury to Ben Afleck's old man bones. That, however, has been proven false by the fact that he was alive, well, and uninjured at the Golden Globes the day after the report surfaced. So I decided to jot down some of my thoughts. What I came up with were three of the most likely reasons, in my opinion, that this date change was made. To be clear, this is all speculation and my opinion. No facts will be found here.

Reason 1 - The Script Was Terrible

At Comic-Con, writer David Goyer and director Zack Snyder announced that the upcoming film, unofficially called Batman vs. Superman, was in the works and they were finishing up the story. A lot has changed since then as Ben Afleck was cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne in what many believe was a huge deal between he and Warner Bros. Months after his casting, Ben's writer from his Oscar winning movie Argo, Chris Terrio, was brought on board to do rewrites to the script. At the time, most people in the know in the movie industry thought nothing of this. It's certainly not uncommon for script rewrites to happen just before production begins or even on the set; but in hindsight, this may have been a bigger deal than we all first thought. One possibility is that Terrio came on board and felt the script needed a complete overhaul. Warner Bros. may have even given Afleck final approval of the script! After all, i'm pretty sure Afleck is desperate to avoid another Daredevil level failure. 

Reason 2 - "Screw it! Let's just do Justice League!"

When the Comic-Con announcement came, we were all psyched to hear that Batman and Superman were going to meet up for the first time on the big screen! Superman fans had mixed feelings. Some were bummed that we wouldn't be seeing another standalone Supes film  but others were over the moon, because Batman! Gradually though, more rumors started to surface that the scope of this movie might be bigger than we all thought. Other heroes were rumored: Aquaman, the Flash, Wonder Woman. Cries started going up all over the internet that this was all just a smokescreen and that it would soon be announced that this is actually the Justice League movie they'd been working on all along. The second possibility I see is that with Gal Gadot's casting as Wonder Woman and the pressure WB is feeling to compete with Marvel's Avengers juggernaut, they decided to delay the movie and just combine this film with the plans they (hopefully) already had in place for Justice League. 

Reason 3 - Back to Back

The third reason is the one I'm hoping for. Maybe Warner Brothers is pulling a Peter Jackson. When Jackson got the gig filming Lord of the Rings, his idea was to film all three movies back to back. It took two years but he got the job done. This gave the franchise a couple of advantages. For one, the whole trilogy has a singular feel and tone. The characters don't age three years between installments which makes things easier on the audience as well as your story. But the more important advantage is that the studio could release the films closer together. Forget waiting two or three years to find out if Frodo made it to Mount Doom. You can find out in a year! This kind of schedule requires a ton of preparation and coordination. It's possible that Batman vs. Superman was pushed back to give Zack Snyder and Co. the prep time they needed to shoot this movie as well as Justice League back to back. 

Maybe one of these explanations is accurate and maybe none of them are; you decide. In the meantime, your question of the day: Are you worried for the future of this movie? Do you think this delay means bad things for the production or are you just happy they aren't rushing into things? Comment and let us know!

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