Batman III: Is Nolan In?

Most Happy Fellas–Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan

ComingSoon points out a few lines at the end of an article about The Dark Knight in The Hollywood Reporter:

“…Warners and Legendary are both interested in doing a third in the series, but all involved say it will be up to Nolan to come to them with a story and a plan.

“There are a lot of us who emotionally would love to do it,” [producer Chuck] Roven says. “But it’s really Chris’ call. Chris is the kind of filmmaker who just doesn’t think about the next movie before he has completely finished the movie he is working on.”

I wouldn’t say that’s strong enough to strike fear into the hearts of Nolan’s fans, but it is just a warning that the personnel for the third movie isn’t set to go. And there is no doubt that there will be a third movie–are you kidding? The Dark Knight made a kazillion dollars. If Warner Brothers was stuck with Brett Ratner’s less talented younger brother directing and Sylvester Stallone starring as Batman, they’d still make the movie and if it made half what TDK made, they’d weep with joy. That, however, might be the best argument for Nolan to return–at this point, would he want to risk having what he created fall into someone else’s hands. So it would seem likely that he’d be in on the third one, but as always, proceed with caution. Strange things happen sometimes.

For now, Nolan is taking a well-earned vacation.

Says Roven, “When he comes back, we will see how he feels.”