The Batman Using Same Virtual Production Techniques as Mandalorian

October 20, 2020

During a recent appearance at the virtual VIEW confab (via The Hollywood Reporter), Industrial Light & Magic’s chief creative officer Rob Bredow revealed they are currently collaborating with DP Greig Fraser to implement their groundbreaking virtual production techniques for select scenes in the upcoming Matt Reeves-directed DC film The Batman. This marks the second collaboration between ILM and Fraser, who recently won an Emmy for his work on the first season of The Mandalorian.

Bredow also confirmed that The Batman’s production design team have already “pre-built practical sets in the UK and an LED wall was built around these sets to enable use of virtual production in those specific scenes.”

The special VFX techniques make use of HD LED panels which duplicate the landscapes of different worlds were first utilized and popularized by director Jon Favreau for 2019’s The Lion King and The Mandalorian. Due to its success, the Lucasfilm-owned VFX company had launched a new virtual production unit called “StageCraft,” that was built around the Mandalorian technique.

Starring alongside Robert Pattinson’s Batman/Bruce Wayne is Zoë Kravitz (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Mad Max: Fury Road) as Selina Kyle; Paul Dano (Love & Mercy, 12 Years a Slave) as Edward Nashton; Jeffrey Wright (the Hunger Games films) as the GCPD’s James Gordon; John Turturro (the Transformers films) as Carmine Falcone; Peter Sarsgaard (The Magnificent Seven, Black Mass) as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson; Jayme Lawson (Farewell Amor) as mayoral candidate Bella Reál; with Andy Serkis (the Planet of the Apes films, Black Panther) as Alfred; and Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Dumbo) as Oswald Cobblepot. Twins Max and Charlie Carver have also joined the movie in “sizable roles.”

During DC FanDome, director Matt Reeves, who co-wrote the screenplay along with Peter Craig, confirmed the movie will focus on Bruce Wayne’s second year as Batman, and, per Walter Hamada, that the film is set in a different universe separate from the Justice League DCEU characters. Reeves also revealed that the movie is a detective story that follows a series of murders that open up the history of corruption in Gotham and how Bruce’s family is linked.

Reeves and Dylan Clark (the Planet of the Apes films) are producing the film, with Simon Emanuel, Michael E. Uslan, Walter Hamada, and Chantal Nong Vo serving as executive producers.

The Batman opens in theaters on March 4, 2022.