WB “Reportedly” Announcing ‘Batman 3′/Christopher Nolan Plans in January

THE MOVIE MASH IS BACK!!! Thousands of apologizes to all The Movie Mashers. I just started a new job and have been working a lot. Plus this idiot acquaintance of mine, stepped on my laptop, ruining the screen, thus my Photoshop/home computer access has been extremely limited. But I’ve worked out some writing time slots with my roommates that will hopefully allow me to provide you with the best movie analysis on the web at least once a day. So let’s get to it. The “will he?/won’t he?” back-and-forth banter regarding whether or not Christopher Nolan will return to the Batman franchise one last time with a follow-up to The Dark Knight has been going on since TDK first left theaters. The hopeful film-to-be would of course cap off his already legendary superhero trilogy that has forever cemented itself atop the threshold of American cinema. It has been well documented on The Movie Mash for months. Well, now we have “word” that Warner Bros. will wipe the drool away from fanboys everywhere with an announcement on the future of the Batman franchise and Nolan’s involvement in it.

The “INCEPTION” (get it?) of this supposed announcement is actually from a legitimate Batman movie source; that being Jett from the New York Times of any and all Batman news: Batman-on-film.com. Jett has been writing, blogging and breaking news about Batman on the silver screen news for a little over a decade, so it’s not like he’s some NKOTB. It’s not like he’s adding to the continual and expontially increasing monstosity of Batman 3 rumors that have made the rounds across the internet over the last several months (i.e. Johnny Depp is the Riddler and Megan Fox is Catwoman). This is simply a report by Jett, relaying information from his “trusted source” that WB will make an epic announcement about Batman 3 and Nolan’s involvement in January (via MovieWeb):

“Our source also confirmed the obvious — there’s going to be a BATMAN 3 with or without Nolan. And although they’re operating under the assumption that he will return, they do have their ducks in a row — just in case. Our guy told BOF that in his opinion, the longer we don’t hear a Nolan/B3 announcement in 2010, the less likely it is that the director will return.”

I don’t agree with the latter claim and I’ll tell you why in a minute. For those of you who are loyal Movie Mashers, you’ve heard this argument before, but for those who haven’t, listen up and listen good. CHRISTOPHER NOLAN WILL RETURN TO DO BATMAN 3. When a studio has a director who creates a superhero blockbuster that gains over $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming the second highest-grossing movie in history (minus inflation) behind Titanic, wins an Oscar and gets nominated for eight others, completely reshapes the way studios and audiences view blockbusters and comic-book movies, that studio is going to do EVERYTHING in their power to get that same director to return for a follow-up.

In this day in age, with instant and constant news via Twitter, Facebook and jackasses on movie blogs providing thousands of loyal readers with their opinions, studios have to be VERY CAREFUL in what information they release about their upcoming blockbusters, as well as when and how they do it. There hasn’t been an Batman 3 “news” in months, and this little, unconfirmed tidbit has been the front page of most movie blogs across the web today. You think Warner Bros. suits don’t know this? You think they don’t know how passionate us nerds are about this? You don’t think they know that a majority of you who are reading this PAID to see The Dark Knight in theaters more than once? If not, then you must be dumb. These studios have people reading Tweets and movie blogs around the clock to monitor the blood pressure of the fanboy fanbase. And since The Dark Knight left theaters, the universal consensus has been that WE WANT NOLAN BACK! And anything less would be unacceptable.

There are two more aspects of this “news” that make me believe Nolan will be back. When a movie is even semi-successful and barely crosses the $200 million mark, studios are itching to make a sequel, usually pumping out #2 or #3 almost immediately. Jon Favreau didn’t even have six months off after Iron Man came out in 2008 before he started working on the script for IM2. So if Warner Bros. was so desperate to get a Batman 3 rolling immediately, to cash in on the success of TDK, they would have moved forward, without Nolan. But because of Nolan’s genius and the huge impact he has had on Time Warner’s stock after TDK, he basically has WB by the balls, ultimately allowing him to do his own project, Inception, before returning the bat universe.

Lastly and maybe the biggest aspect of all this, contributing to Nolan’s return, is the timing of this “reported” announcement. Inception wraps filming at the end of the month after SIX MONTHS of production. The film has a $200 million budget, is set to be released in IMAX theaters and is WB’s biggest blockbuster of their 2010 slate. The marketing already began for Inception a year in advance as they released a one-minute teaser trailer this past August. Usually the blockbuster marketing itinerary goes: a teaser is released the summer before the film’s release and a full-length official trailer is released in the winter (i.e. TDK). How much more buzz and anticipation do you think Nolan and Warner Bros. will get if for Inception if they simultaneously announce his return to Batman 3 with the first official Inception trailer? A LOT! Nolan is now an official brand name that WB can stamp on his projects that automatically guarantee epic blockbuster quality. It’s not just coincidence people.

Now, none of this is actually confirmed, but it’s intelligent speculation that is supported by a series of culminating factors that could, and I think will, end up with Christoper Nolan returning to complete his masterpiece Batman trilogy.

What Do You Think? Discuss.