Ben Affleck is to direct and star in a new stand-alone Batman movie, Warner Bros has revealed.
The Argo star portrayed the caped crusader in Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and had been rumoured to be the studio’s top choice to helm the film.
Warner Bros chairman Kevin Tsujihara confirmed Ben would take up the director’s seat at CinemaCon, an annual gathering of theatre owners in Las Vegas.
Ben Affleck promoting Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (Marco Ugarte/AP)
The stand-alone Batman film is part of plans for an expanded DC Comics cinematic universe, similar to that of the Disney and Marvel collaboration.
Warner Bros has at least 10 features in the works, including Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and Justice League.
Ben, who is also directing Live By Night for the studio, made an appearance with Amy Adams, who plays Lois Lane. He confirmed that both would be joining Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which is currently in production in London.
Actor Ben Affleck poses with a statue of Batman during a press conference in China (Ng Han Guan/AP)
Suicide Squad director David Ayer and stars Will Smith and Margot Robbie were on hand as well to hype the super-villains gone straight pic, which launches on August 5 with intense footage focusing heavily on Margot’s Harley Quinn.
Warner Bros also trotted out stars and footage from a number of their upcoming films including the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, The Lego Batman Movie, the Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling comedy The Nice Guys and the Emilia Clarke romantic drama Me Before You.
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