A little over a week ago, it was announced that Ben Affleck was officially stepping down as the director of The Batman. He and the studio reportedly felt that it was best for the movie if he focused on putting everything he could into the role and getting a director who could really help them get the movie where it needed to be. Well, it looks like Warner Bros. has found that director and that director is Matt Reeves.

Variety is reporting that Matt Reeves has already committed to directing The Batman, but the deal is still being worked out. It was reported by Variety when the news broke that Ben Affleck would not be directing the movie that Reeves, who most recently directed War for the Planet of the Apes for Fox, was the studio's top choice for the job. It looks like they didn't have to settle, because assuming they can get the contract done, and it seems very likely they will, The Batman is now going to be his next movie.

Ben Affleck is still going to star in and produce the new Batman movie for Warner Bros., but he felt he needed to find a "partner in a director," as he put it, to helm the project. Affleck helped co-write the script for the movie, along with Geoff Johns. The script recently got a rewrite from Argo and Justice League scribe Chris Terrio. Apparently, that was just what it needed, because a recent report claimed that everyone, including Ben Affleck and the heads at Warner Bros., were very happy with that draft of the script and were ready to move ahead. Now, with Matt Reeves on board, things really seem to be moving in the right direction.

While many DC fans were excited to see what a Ben Affleck directed Batman movie would look like, Matt Reeves definitely seems like he is very qualified for the job. He directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the second in the rebooted franchise. He took over for Rupert Wyatt, who directed Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The third in the series, War for the Planet of the Apes, is set to come out in July, which will leave him free to get to work on The Batman. Aside from his work on the Planet of the Apes movies, Matt Reeves also directed the 2008 monster flick Cloverfield and the 2010 horror movie Let Me In, which was a remake of the Spanish vampire movie Let the Right One In. So his track record is really solid at this point.

There is no word on when production will start, but The Batman was expected to shoot sometime this year. With a script and a director in place, they should still be able to make that happen. Aside from Ben Affleck playing the Caped Crusader, Joe Manganiello has been cast to play the villain Deathstroke, with J.K. Simmons playing Commissioner Gordon and Jeremy Irons returning to play Alfred. There is no word yet on a release date for The Batman, but things are looking good after a bit of a bumpy start, so hopefully the studio won't make us wait too long. We will be sure to keep you posted as more details on the movie become available.