The first post-Christopher Nolan solo Batman movie hitting theaters won’t be with Ben Affleck it seems. Nope, announced today via the Hollywood Reporter, the Lego Movie‘s Batman will be getting his own spin-off movie, set to hit theaters in 2017, and once again voiced by Will Arnett. Chris McKay, the animation supervisor on this first Lego Movie, was originally going to direct the sequel to the film, but now, the movie is being pushed back a bit, and McKay is now directing the Lego Batman spin-off movie instead– which is being written by novelist and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith, best known for his books Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, as well as Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Warner Brothers is looking at a 2017 release date, most likely on the date that Lego Movie 2 was originally slotted for.

Lego Batman is actually already a pretty big franchise, as there have been three straight-to-DVD movies featuring the character (in the movies he’s voiced by Troy Baker), usually teamed up with Superman and other DC heroes. Getting his own theatrical movie is the big-time though, and it shows that Warner Brothers is confident enough in the Batman property to have both a comedic “kiddie” version out there at the same time as the big screen “serious” versions. They had a similar tactic when the very kid-oriented Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon was airing at the same time as the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale movies were in theaters, but those are two different mediums. Batman is now officially so ingrained in popular culture that having two vastly different approaches to the character at the same time doesn’t damage him at all.

Are you more excited about Lego Batman than Batfleck? Let us know in the comments below.

[HT: Hollywood Reporter]

Image: Warner Bros.