With The Batman having faced serious delays due to the Covid pandemic, it is somewhat appropriate that director Matt Reeves was forced to miss out on the New York world premiere of the movie after testing positive for the virus. Having been vaccinated and boosted, Reeves doesn’t seem to be suffering greatly from the effects of the virus. However, as the pandemic is still very much a part of life, the director was sadly unable to turn up to the event in person and instead dropped in via video message.
Reeves attended the London premiere at the weekend, but his recent test has prevented him from mingling with the stars of the movie and fans at the event held at Lincoln Center in New York on Tuesday. While Robert Pattinson, Paul Dano, Zoe Kravitz, and others were in attendance, Reeves sent this message via video, which was shared by Variety’s Ramin Setoodeh. He said:
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Of course, being vaccinated doesn’t stop someone from catching Covid, but as Reeves said, he is healthy and not suffering any virus symptoms.
Matt Reeves Absence From The Batman Premiere Gives a Reminder of Covid’s Presence
Photo: Gage Skidmore
While there are signs that the worst of the Covid pandemic is over, there will still be new strains, potentially more dangerous variants and a genuine prospect that Covid will never be completely gone. While Matt Reeves was forced to stay away from the premiere of The Batman to prevent spreading the virus, his mention of being vaccinated, and his sprightly appearance have at least reassured fans that he is not feeling the effects as much as some.
While it is clear from The Batman’s predictions of a $225 million opening weekend that audiences are starting to return to theaters in greater numbers, it is still likely that the Covid pandemic will be around for many years and will end up being another virus that everyone just needs to be mindful of. With many big movies heading to cinemas in the coming months, it looks like for the entertainment industry at least, the biggest impact of the virus could now be in the past.
While Spider-Man: No Way Home blew away all box office predictions, it is movies like The Batman that will give the best indication of just how many are now happy to come back to theaters for the blockbuster film that keep them in business. It is almost a year on from when Marvel released Black Widow and discovered that the recovery of the industry was not going to happen overnight, but now it is DC who will find out exactly how far we have come in that time.
