THE BATMAN lawsuit reveals why Matt Reeves didn’t direct Ben Affleck’s version of the film

A lawsuit has been filed against Matt Reeves’ The Batman claiming that Warner Bros. and the director plagiarized the story. The lawsuit was filed by the writer Christopher Wozniakfreelance comic book writer and artist for DC in the 1990s.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer recently ruled that WB and Reeves did not copy Wozniak’s story, titled “The Ultimate Riddle” (now titled “The Blind Man’s Hat”), which he submitted to DC numerous times after writing it in 1990 Wozniak also claimed to have sent the story to a film producer, Michael Uslan, in 2008 as the basis for The Batmanthe screenplay.

When the lawsuit was initially announced, Wozniak’s attorney, stated: “There are so many original expressions of my client’s story found in the defendant’s film that we believe this is a clear case of copyright infringement. The similarities are simply too uncanny to be coincidental.”

In his ruling, Judge Engelmayer not only ruled in favor of WB, but also pointed out that Wozniak’s story was a violation of DC’s copyright laws: “The story’s use of the Batman character and of the protected surrounding elements is an act of clear and obvious copyright”. violation.”

It was also pointed out that the story structure for The Batman it was too common to be the source of a lawsuit. The judge simply didn’t believe Wozniak had any substantial evidence that Warner Bros. had gotten hold of his story and then retooled it into The Batman.

The court documents were made public and include a statement from Reeves, revealing that he was initially asked in January 2017 to direct Ben Affleck’s version of the film and how he didn’t want to tell that story. He said, “Warner Bros. sent me a pre-existing script written by a name writer Chris Terrio and the writer and director Ben Affleck. After reading it, I realized that the story and resulting film were not a project I felt I wanted to make.”

He added: “[If Warner Bros.] wanted to use this pre-existing script, he would have to use another director. I also told them about an idea I had for an original Batman story I had conceived: a Batman detective story in which solving the case led to the discovery of something unexpectedly personal for Batman. Warner Bros. liked the idea and hired me to make The Batman.”

Reeves also shared, “I did not use any material from the previous script written by Chris Terrio or any other material provided by Warner Bros. other than the Batman characters and universe.”

He also addresses the notes he received from the studio and how that affected the gadgets he did and didn’t use in the story. It’s quite interesting to have this view of the project and how Reeves had no interest in directing the film that Affleck and Terrio had put together. That film would have revolved around Deathstroke dismantling Bruce Wayne’s life.

You can read Reeves’ statement below.

Source: Reuters