New York Daily News

Virus clips wings of new Batman

- BY TIM BALK

Even the Caped Crusader can’t conquer coronaviru­s.

Production of the upcoming Batman movie was put on ice for at least the next two weeks due to the pandemic, Warner Bros. said Saturday.

“The Batman,” which stars “Twilight” hunk Robert Pattinson (photo) as the Gotham City protector, began shooting in London over the winter.

“Warner Bros. Pictures feature production of ‘The Batman’ will hiatus filming for two weeks beginning today,” the California filmmaker said in a statement. “The studio will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

Matt Reeves is directing the upcoming Bat-flick, which is planned to fly into theaters in June of next year. Colin Farrell plays The Penguin, and Paul Dano takes on the character of The Riddler. Little has been revealed publicly about the plot.

The paused Batman movie joins a growing list of films that have been thrown off course by the outbreak of COVID-19, which has sickened more than 1,000 in the UK and north of 150,000 around the world.

On Friday, Disney announced it was pausing production on a number of liveaction movies, including remakes of “Home Alone” and “The Little Mermaid.”

Though a number of Disney’s flicks are frozen in production, the company said it would thaw “Frozen 2” and send it to streaming services three months early as a treat to families stuck at home.

The Razzie Awards ceremony, an annual celebratio­n of film ineptitude, also was canceled. The 40th edition of the award show was scheduled to take place Saturday night at Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Los Angeles.

“We had performers, an opening number, sketches and videos all set and ready to go for tonight,” Razzies Co-Founder Mo Murphy told the Daily News. Instead, Razzie “winners” will be announced via a YouTube video, Murphy said.

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