The Batman Resumes Production, Robert Pattinson Cleared of COVID-19

The Batman has reportedly resumed filming over in London after star Robert Pattinson was cleared of COVID-19 infection. Warner Bros. has made the official announcement about The Batman's production status: "Following a hiatus for COVID 19 quarantine precautions, filming has now resumed on The Batman in the U.K.," the studio told Variety. Production on The Batman was shut down on September 3rd when COVID-19 tests for members of the crew (including Pattinson) came back positive. Soon after, there was an erroneous report that The Batman director Matt Reeves would keep filming scenes without Pattinson, but it turned out that the entire cast and crew had to be quarantined. Now it seems like things have cleared up, and it's back to work.

Warner Bros. has never released the names of the other crew members who tested positive for COVID-19, or any general contact tracing information on how the disease got onto the set. Those questions aside, getting The Batman back into production was no small task, as Warner Bros. had a stringent list of public health conditions that needed to be met before The Batman could start rolling cameras again. As Variety previously reported:

"...Anyone who came within six feet of Pattinson for more than 15 minutes would need to be immediately isolated for 14 days, regardless of whether or not they test positive. That would likely mean any actors or stunt performers who appeared on camera with Pattinson without a mask, along with any crew members tasked with supporting Pattinson through the shoot — including director Matt Reeves, if he didn't remain socially distant with Pattinson. If any of those people also test positive, further quarantining of individuals within their respective orbits would be necessary as well."

Pattinson was just one high-profile DC movie celebrity who announced a COVID-19 infection in recent weeks (the other being Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson). These coronavirus incidents have continued to raise the debate about whether Hollywood is moving too quickly in its attempt to get the movie industry going again. While film and TV casts and crews are adhering to strict new measures about how to conduct their business - and yet it still seems that containing the novel coronavirus is a difficult (if not impossible) task to achieve with any certainty.

The Batman is slated to hit theaters on October 1, 2021.