The last film JJ Abrams directed was the 2019 franchise closer “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” And now Abrams’ legion of fans will have to wait one more year for his next directorial project.
Later today, Warner Bros. will officially move Abrams’ “The Great Beyond” from Nov. 13, 2026, to Oct. 1, 2027, Page Six Hollywood has learned.
The move presented a tricky scheduling conundrum for Warner Bros., which already had Matt Reeves’ “The Batman: Part II,” currently shooting in London, slated for release in that same Oct. 1, 2027, slot.
But Reeves also needed an additional six months with his effects-heavy film, so Warner Bros. moved the highly anticipated sequel to Feb. 18, 2028, marking its third calendar shift (caused, in part, by the 2023 WGA and SAG strikes).
The original October 2025 release date was pushed back a year. Then, the film moved off that date to October 2027.
Sources say Warner Bros. held a recent test screening for “The Great Beyond,” which stars Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Merritt Wever and Samuel L. Jackson. The feedback was so strong that the studio decided to pursue an IMAX 70mm film strategy. An IMAX 70mm rollout required additional lead time for print production. (The studio has kept Abrams’ script under tight wraps, and plot details are scarce.)
We hear Abrams wanted to keep the film in the fall corridor, and once it became clear that Reeves also wanted additional time in postproduction, conversations kicked off about “Great Beyond” claiming “The Batman” sequel’s spot.
It’s worth noting that Abrams and Reeves’ relationship dates back decades to when the duo co-created and executive produced “Felicity,” the seminal CW hit of the late ’90s/early aughts. Reeves directed the low-budget monster film “Cloverfield,” which Abrams produced via his Bad Robot shingle. More recently, the two teamed as executive producers on Amazon’s 2024 animated series “Batman: Caped Crusader.”
“The Batman: Part II” — which features Robert Pattinson‘s return as the titular antihero alongside newcomers Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan — is now back in a spring-ish window, which worked well with Reeves’ previous take on the Caped Crusader.
The first outing opened on March 4, 2022 — not traditionally a coveted tentpole slot — and earned a massive $773 million in a still Covid-challenged box-office climate. Even better, the Feb. 18 release gives the film a four-day weekend, now one of the busiest of theatrical weekends of the New Year.
Meanwhile, Abrams devotees can take comfort in the fact that they still have a movie of his coming down the pike, albeit one that he produced rather than directed, with Warner Bros.’ “The End of Oak Street” next month. That film may or may not be part of the “Cloverfield” universe. (It’s complicated by the question of why Paramount would let a spawn of their franchise enrich Warners.)
Either way, “End of Oak Street” should at least hold over the Bad Robot fandom until the main course in 2027.
“The Batman II” move means there won’t be a 2027 showdown between DC’s two biggest stars in terms of box-office bragging rights.
James Gunn‘s “Superman” sequel, “Man of Tomorrow,” is scheduled to bow on July 9 next year and is staying put. Until then, the DC Studios slate has the low-budget horror swing in “Clayface” on Oct. 23 to (hopefully) help everyone forget about the “Supergirl” misfire.
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