DC And Prime Video Lay The 'Merry Little Batman' Trailer

Batman’s the Christmas dad you’re gonna wanna see

It’s the time of year where the Batmobile loses a wheel and it’s Santa’s job to fix it. DC and Amazon Prime Video have each released the trailer for Merry Little Batman, premiering on the streamer December 8.

Damian Wayne, voiced by Elio’s Yonas Kibreab wants to be a superhero just like his dad Batman. He finds himself alone in Wayne Manor on Christmas Eve after his dad gets stuck on a mission. Too young to become Robin, Damian takes it upon himself and becomes “Little Batman” to fight off Batman’s famous rogues gallery when he stumbles upon their plot to steal Christmas, leaping at the chance to save the day.

The film also stars Luke Wilson as a Bruce Wayne and Batman with facial hair, James Cromwell as Alfred, and David Hornsby as the Joker. Merry Little Batman was written by Morgan Evans and Jase Ricci, and directed by Mike Roth. Music is being provided by Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump, who also happens to be the composer for Spidey and His Amazing Friends, a preschool-oriented series where Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Gwen Stacy are depicted significantly younger than they are typically, like Damian here.

Merry Little Batman was one of six HBO Max projects also intended for Cartoon Network removed from the development slate in August 2022 by Warner Bros. Discovery as a “cost-cutting measure”, believing they could make more money and monetize content by selling projects to third-party buyers. While Merry Little Batman was not the first to be successfully shopped, it still rather closely followed what did to Prime Video, Batman: Caped Crusader. It is a series to be a spiritual successor series to Batman: The Animated Series, from executive producers Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, and The Batman director Matt Reeves. The film was originally announced in September 2021, with two of the movies it would later be dropped with: Did I Do That To The Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story, now known as Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie! and The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, which is gearing up for some sort of theatrical release through GFM Animation. Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical and The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie were the other two dropped films but they don't have any sort of update. However, Prime Video is poised as a top contender to save another shelved Warner Bros. film, the theatrical-intended CGI/live action hybrid Looney Tunes feature, Coyote vs. Acme. The company nearly gave it the same fate as Batgirl and didn’t even bother shopping it despite Amazon’s interest, until massive backlash from industry people and potential collaborators woke them up.

Merry Little Batman will be followed up by Bat-Family, another full animated series that Prime Video ordered when they picked up the film. Set to premiere sometime after the 23 remaining days of 2023, it seems no party is ready to start marketing it yet.

Source: TVLine