(VIDEO) Warner Bros Delays 'The Batman Part II' to 2028 as J.J. Abrams' 'The Great Beyond' Moves to Oct 2027

Warner Bros. reshuffled several major release dates on its 2027 and 2028 theatrical calendar this week, most notably pushing Matt Reeves' "The Batman Part II" back to early 2028 to make room for J.J. Abrams' long-in-the-works sci-fi fantasy film "The Great Beyond."

The studio confirmed that "The Great Beyond," starring Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega, will no longer open on Nov. 13, 2027, as previously planned. Instead, the film is moving up to Oct. 1, 2027. That shift set off a chain reaction across the studio's slate, sending "The Batman Part II," which had occupied the Oct. 1 date, to Feb. 18, 2028.

The new date places the Robert Pattinson-led superhero sequel on the four-day Presidents Day holiday weekend, a slot that has previously hosted major comic book releases including "Black Panther," "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "Captain America: Brave New World." Reeves announced the change on social media Wednesday morning. The film's production start had already been delayed by five months earlier in its development, and the new release date gives the director additional time in post-production.

"The Batman Part II" will still receive Imax screenings on its new date. The film's cast includes Pattinson returning as Batman, along with Andy Serkis as Alfred and Colin Farrell reprising his role as Penguin. New additions to the cast include Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Jayme Lawson, Charles Dance, Gil Perez-Abraham and Sebastian Koch. The sequel will face competition on its new February 2028 weekend from an untitled Disney release and Sony's original action sci-fi feature "Grandgear," directed by Takashi Yamazaki, known for "Godzilla Minus One."

Warner Bros. also moved two other titles on its calendar as part of the broader reshuffling. Sam Esmail's thriller "Panic Carefully" and New Line's horror sequel "Revenge of La Llorona" effectively swapped release dates. "Panic Carefully," which had been scheduled for Feb. 26, 2027, will now open April 9, 2027, in Imax. "Revenge of La Llorona," previously dated for April 9, 2027, moves up to Feb. 26, 2027.

"Panic Carefully" reunites Esmail, the creator of "Mr. Robot," with "Homecoming" and "Leave the World Behind" star Julia Roberts. The cast also includes Eddie Redmayne, Brian Tyree Henry, Ben Chaplin, Aidan Gillen, Joe Alwyn, Naledi Murray and Elizabeth Olsen. On its new April date, the film will go up against Paramount Primal's R-rated comedy "Boys for Life," which was dated for the same weekend just a day before Warner Bros.' announcement.

"Revenge of La Llorona," meanwhile, will now compete against Paramount's "K-Pop: The Debut" and Sony's family drama "Live Like That" on its new February weekend. The film is directed by Santiago Menghini from a screenplay by Sean Tretta, and continues the story introduced in the 2019 horror film "The Curse of La Llorona." Its cast includes Raymond Cruz, Monica Raymund, Martín Fajardo, Acston Luca Porto, Avie Porto, Edy Ganem and Jay Hernandez, with the sequel following a fractured family that must confront its past and enlist an estranged curandero grandfather to battle the vengeful spirit at the center of the franchise.

The reshuffling comes as "The Great Beyond" finalizes its production timeline. Early signs of the date change emerged when Amazon MGM Studios recently moved its action film "How to Rob a Bank" from Labor Day weekend to Nov. 13, effectively clearing the November date that "The Great Beyond" was vacating. The only wide release remaining on that November weekend is Paramount's "Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol," directed by Ti West and starring Johnny Depp.

According to reporting on the project, a recent test screening of "The Great Beyond" at a theater in Irvine, California, led Warner Bros. to commit to releasing the film in 70mm Imax prints, a format decision that factored into the scheduling shift. Abrams has been in the editing process on the film and was previously expected to complete post-production work in September. The new release date gives the director, best known for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," additional time to finish the project, which he also wrote. The film was first teased publicly at CinemaCon in April.

"The Great Beyond" marks Abrams' first original film in more than a decade and lands in a launch window that has historically been favorable for Warner Bros., having previously hosted hits including "Gravity," "Joker," "A Star Is Born," "Dune," "Argo" and "The Departed." In addition to Powell and Ortega, the film also stars Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Merritt Wever and Samuel L. Jackson. As of this week, "The Great Beyond" remains the only major studio wide theatrical release scheduled for Oct. 1, 2027.

The scheduling changes arrive as Warner Bros.' pending acquisition by Paramount remains tied up in ongoing antitrust litigation, including lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of California, New York and ten other states. The 103-year-old studio's merger with Paramount had previously been expected to close by the fall of 2026, though that timeline remains uncertain given the continuing legal challenges. Notably, the date shuffle puts Warner Bros. in direct competition with Paramount, its potential parent company, on two of the newly adjusted dates, as Paramount already had films scheduled for both Feb. 26 and April 9, 2027.

The moves represent some of the more significant scheduling changes on Warner Bros.' calendar this year, affecting four separate films across genres ranging from big-budget superhero filmmaking to original science fiction, prestige thriller and horror sequel territory. With "The Batman Part II" now more than a year and a half away from release, fans of the franchise will have an extended wait to see Pattinson's return, while Abrams' passion project moves into a release window the studio has historically used to launch some of its biggest awards-season and box office successes.