Steven Soderbergh to Help Matt Reeves to Complete the Upcoming Batman Movie. 5 Classics That Were Once Considered Impossible to Make

STEVEN SODERBERGH—an acclaimed American filmmaker known for movies like Traffic and Ocean's 11—will help Matt Reeves to finish the movie Batman part 2, sequel to 2022 blockbuster ‘The Batman,’ due to the director facing personal issues. On Thursday, October 16, 2026, Reeves clears on X that he is still the director and thanked Soderbergh for his offer to help.

“Just to be clear, I am not leaving The Batman Part II. I am profoundly grateful to Steven for coming to my aid during this challenging time to help me finish principal photography. Thank you to all for your concern and well wishes,” Reeves wrote on X after the news broke on Thursday. 

Steven Soderbergh, In 1989, at the age of 26,  became the youngest director to win the Palme d’Or, highest award of the Cannes Film Festival for his movie  Sex, Lies and Videotape in his directorial debut.

Fans around the world are eagerly waiting for Batman part 2. The movie, after long delays, was originally scheduled to be released on October 2, 2026, then it pushed back a year later to October 1, 2027 and now finally will hit the silver screen worldwide on February 18, 2028. 

Filmmaking is a tiresome journey and takes longer than expected. It is not the first time a movie is going through a rough patch in its shooting stage. Below are some of the examples of the movies that shared the same fate and later became a classic.

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5 Classic Films That Survived Troubled Productions to Become Classics

Mughal-E-Azam (1960)

One of highest grossing movies of all time at the Indian box office, when adjusted for inflation, this grand spectacle remained for seven years in the making. Production started in 1953, When K Asif, the director decided to execute his idea that he originally planned to implement in a feature in 1944. Magnificent larger than life set, spending almost Rs 1 million at the Sheesh mahal to picturise the song, Jab Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya to calling upon Indian Army soldiers to be featured in the fight sequence and making an offer to Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, who never sang for a film, which he couldn’t refuse, almost left the producers of the movie at the verge of being bankrupt. But the hard work paid off very well and the rest is history now.

Pakeejah (1972)

The making of this 1972 masterpiece of director Kamal Amrohi, was even more complex and time taken than the Mughal-E-Azam’s. The film’s Muhurat (an auspicious beginning ritual in Hindu religion) ceremony was in 1957 but it hadn’t taken off even until 1964. Later Amrohi and the main lead of the movie superstar Meena Kumari got separated after years of relationship. The cinematographer died, the music director also died, and Meena Kumari severely fell ill and succumbed to alcoholism. Finally it got released in 1972 and became an instant blockbuster. Meena Kumari passed away a month later after the release of the movie.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

After sweeping every major award around the world from Oscars to Cannes, Francis Ford Coppola—the director famous for the movies like The Godfather and The Conversation—was at the peak of his career when he approached his most daredevil project yet. The sets in the jungles of the Philippines destroyed by typhoon Olga, actor Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack and Marlon Brando's lame unpreparedness for the role, stretched the production for over a year which was originally planned for five months. The film was finally released in 1979 and today is regarded as one of the greatest films in the history of cinema.

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Pather Panchali (1955)

Satyajit Ray was inspired from the 1948 Italian film Bicycle Thief, the auteur instantly chose to adopt Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s 1929 Bengali novel of the same name in his directorial debut. Due to a shortage of budget, shooting on location and most of the cast and crew was not skilled and mature at the time, the film took nearly three years to complete with the aid of his own saving and government assistance.

Cleopatra (1963)

One of the most ambitious, opulent, and controversial movies in Hollywood history. Originally intended to be a magnificent historical epic, it became one of the most costly and problematic projects ever, almost bankrupting 20th Century Fox. Cleopatra’s initial $2 million budget swiftly grew to $44 million, or over $400 million in today’s currency.  Cleopatra changed the way Hollywood today handles high budget movie projects today.

(Edited by Ritik Singh)

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