I'll spare you the witty intro praising the accolades and gravitas that was
The Dark Knight. By now you know it's an awesome movie that is probably the best comic book ever made, as well as one of the best movies ever made period (not the best, but certainly among them).
Christian Bale is a big reason for the film's success (as well as
Batman Begins), but if you had to pick just one person to give all the credit to that person would be Christopher Nolan. The man singlehandedly revived the franchise and even bested Tim Burton's
Batman and
Batman Returns with his works. So a third film involving him is inevitable right? Don't be so sure.
Batman-on-Film has an "inside source" claiming that Nolan might not get behind the lens for a possible third Batman. If you remember, David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan had to lobby hard to get Christopher Nolan to even do
The Dark Knight. This time, the task may be even more difficult. It's so tough right now that as much as Warner Brothers wants Nolan back, they've created a shortlist of directors they can call on to step in and take his place if necessary.
Why the possible non-commitment?
According to BOF's source, the biggest reason for Nolan not to return is Heath Ledger. More specifically, his untimely death. Ledger's passing was said to have "rocked Mr. Nolan hard," so much to the point that he was convinved that The Dark Knight would be it for him. Apparently, there were plans to have Joker involved in the third film to create a trilogy, but that is completely out of the question now.
As it stands right now, there isn't a story at all for a third film. Batman is essentially at square one at this point, meaning that the next film really won't have much continuity with either of the first two films. Not only that, but the expected release date is sometime in 2012, and that's being optimistic! The more realistic release year would be 2013, a full 5 years after The Dark Knight.
Many people have said that doing a third film will ruin the mystique that surrounded The Dark Knight as a result of Ledger, and I don't completely buy that. If Nolan did a third film that made no mention of the Joker at all -that is, a truly standalone flick that didn't reference the events of The Dark Knight- I don't think that would cheapen any of the movies.
The problem is (if you want to call it a problem) is that the events in The Dark Knight pretty much rocked Gotham City to its core. If what happened in that film happened in a real city, that city wouldn't forget those events for at least three of four years afterwards. So a third film would have to at least loosely reference the events, but even still the ghost (seriously, no pun intended) of Ledger's Joker would still cast a sort of pall over a third film.
I'll be the first to admit that I would love Nolan to do a third film. He definitely knows the character, and has a stellar relationship with Bale. But if he wanted to back out of the franchise at this point then more power to him. He's definitely leaving the franchise at an extremely good place, and if it happens that we have to wait another 5-10 years or so before we get a new Batman film, I'll be perfectly content with watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight over and over again.
Christopher Nolan might not be keen on next Batman
I'll spare you the witty intro praising the accolades and gravitas that was The Dark Knight. By now you know it's an awesome movie that is probably the best comic book ever made, as well as one of the best movies ever made period (not the best, but certainly among them).
Christian Bale is a big reason for the film's success (as well as Batman Begins), but if you had to pick just one person to give all the credit to that person would be Christopher Nolan. The man singlehandedly revived the franchise and even bested Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns with his works. So a third film involving him is inevitable right? Don't be so sure.
Batman-on-Film has an "inside source" claiming that Nolan might not get behind the lens for a possible third Batman. If you remember, David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan had to lobby hard to get Christopher Nolan to even do The Dark Knight. This time, the task may be even more difficult. It's so tough right now that as much as Warner Brothers wants Nolan back, they've created a shortlist of directors they can call on to step in and take his place if necessary.
Why the possible non-commitment?
According to BOF's source, the biggest reason for Nolan not to return is Heath Ledger. More specifically, his untimely death. Ledger's passing was said to have "rocked Mr. Nolan hard," so much to the point that he was convinved that The Dark Knight would be it for him. Apparently, there were plans to have Joker involved in the third film to create a trilogy, but that is completely out of the question now.
As it stands right now, there isn't a story at all for a third film. Batman is essentially at square one at this point, meaning that the next film really won't have much continuity with either of the first two films. Not only that, but the expected release date is sometime in 2012, and that's being optimistic! The more realistic release year would be 2013, a full 5 years after The Dark Knight.
Many people have said that doing a third film will ruin the mystique that surrounded The Dark Knight as a result of Ledger, and I don't completely buy that. If Nolan did a third film that made no mention of the Joker at all -that is, a truly standalone flick that didn't reference the events of The Dark Knight- I don't think that would cheapen any of the movies.
The problem is (if you want to call it a problem) is that the events in The Dark Knight pretty much rocked Gotham City to its core. If what happened in that film happened in a real city, that city wouldn't forget those events for at least three of four years afterwards. So a third film would have to at least loosely reference the events, but even still the ghost (seriously, no pun intended) of Ledger's Joker would still cast a sort of pall over a third film.
I'll be the first to admit that I would love Nolan to do a third film. He definitely knows the character, and has a stellar relationship with Bale. But if he wanted to back out of the franchise at this point then more power to him. He's definitely leaving the franchise at an extremely good place, and if it happens that we have to wait another 5-10 years or so before we get a new Batman film, I'll be perfectly content with watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight over and over again.
Christopher Nolan might not be keen on next Batman
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