Tuesday
30Sep2008
'Dark Knight' Sequel to Start Production in Early 2009?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 11:19PM
So where are we on the Batman threequel? Here's a
list of what you could believe:
1)
Angelina Jolie will play Catwoman
2) Johnny Depp will portray The Riddler
3) No matter how much he protests, Philip Seymour Hoffman has already inked a deal to play The Penguin
4) The movie will be called The Dark Knight Returns
5) Two-Face isn't dead, even though Aaron Eckhart swears he is
2) Johnny Depp will portray The Riddler
3) No matter how much he protests, Philip Seymour Hoffman has already inked a deal to play The Penguin
4) The movie will be called The Dark Knight Returns
5) Two-Face isn't dead, even though Aaron Eckhart swears he is
Reader Comments (13)
Thank god, for a minute there i thought you were serious about catwoman and the penguin.
What a director "normally" does (that staement in itself is pretty bold considering there's no pattern in the timeline of his EIGHT movies whatsoever) and what he does after making the second most sucessful film in history may differ a little. There may be a bit more motivation here, like say, an offer larger than every other offer he has ever recieved combined. Just a hunch.
Well, Cole, he's only made five studio films. And way to just glance at IMDB; he's only made six features, not eight. Doodlebug is a short, and it's also featured on the Cinema16 credit you give him. So, good research there. He hasn't made EIGHT movies, as you incorrectly suggest.
Beginning with Memento, he's made five films in eight years. Further, you may believe the motivation is money, but you're not opening up to the probability that he, like every other top-line director in Hollywood, gets a back-end deal based on the performance of the movie. He's got plenty of money now, believe me. Even if his percentage is just 5% of the gross plus some DVD profits, he's already made $25 million on The Dark Knight. If it's one percent, he had a $5.2 million summer, plus whatever his salary dictated.
So, I wouldn't think the motivation would be the money, besides the fact that this isn't a college basketball player jumping to the pros because the contracts won't be there the next year. Whenever he decides to make the sequel - if he decides to - that truckload of money will still be waiting. Consider that he will likely get an Oscar nomination as a director, and perhaps as a screenwriter and producer, and he'd be stupid to sign a contract before January, anyway. He could make more money just by waiting for the nominations.
Personally, I believe the motivation for him would be to not squander the critically and commercially successful world he's reinvented for Batman by jumping headlong into the first idea that comes along. I think he'd be even more deliberate to make sure he goes out on the right note.
Just a hunch.
Most of the talk of an imminent sequel is just wishful thinking on the part of the studio.
Of course they want another Batman movie - yesterday, if they could.
It doesn't fit Nolan's pattern of work though and I am sure that everything would begin with a script by Nolan and his brother, anyway.
The third film can under no circumstances be titled "The Dark Night Returns." That is indelibly linked with Frank Miller's brilliant graphic novel, which cannot be the source material for this film, as the book takes place in a dystopian future where Batman has been missing for a decade.
Personally, I'd vote for "Hunt the Dark Knight" which was the title of one of the chapters of that graphic novel I believe. That fits, considering Gordon essentially says those exact words at the end of the 2nd film.
I'd love to see one of these film WITHOUT a member of the Batman rogue's gallery. The organized crime elements of both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were pretty strong and if written correctly could work to carry an entire film. That said, I think the inclusion of a female cat burglar named Selena Kyle - who is never referred to as "Catwoman" - could fit into the Nolan Batman universe quite nicely.
i loved The Dark Knight, and the Joker was amazing. even though Heath is dead, i would like to have a little bit of Joker in the next film. his story isn't over! also, i don't think with the realism Nolan is shooting for if the Penguin is such a good idea. and catwoman is kinda overdone. but that's my opinion. as long as he makes another Batman film, i'll be happy
Well, I don't know what constitues a "feature" film, and I'm pretty sure I didn't use that term anywhere in my two sentance comment anyway. Following sure felt like a feature film, but then again I didn't have my stopwatch handy. To even suggest that directors don't do comic book movies in order to make money, borders naievety. Forgive me for not responding in essay form as you so eloquently did.
Two Words for Batman 3... Dark Victory. Nolan delivers a realistic Robin origin story to accompany organized crime (penguin as mob boss?) and selina kyle storylines. Look for (a living) Two-Face and Joker (maybe scarecrow?) to make arkham asylum cameos. Bale will come around on Robin if done right... which is the only way the Nolans work.
Cole...he's made five studio films. Movies with budgets, expectations, stars, marketing...studio films. He's made six feature-length movies, and you counted a three-minute short in your list of eight films twice.
So, he's made five movies for studios. Can we agree on that?
I never suggested he didn't make movies of any kind for money, just that he's made more based on the last three months than in the rest of his career combined. He doesn't need to work right now, he's not working right now, and until he gets a story he likes, he won't work.
Dark Victory? Indeed a brilliant graphic novel, but the elements just don't work for the third movie in this franchise. If the third movie is going to loosely follow a graphic novel, my suggestion would be the Knightfall series. The character of Bane could be reworked to be pretty realistic, and hasn't been on the big screen in an honest fashion yet. He can blow up Arkham like he does in the book and release some baddies including Scarecrow and Joker. He could then have a confrontation with Joker since Joker wants Batman alive and become the man who broke Joker instead of the man that broke Batman. I don't know, but that would be my top vote. Or a team of the Riddler and Hush.
I only suggest Dark Victory and the Robin origin (we don't have to see him as robin per se, just young dick greyson) because it parallels so nicely with the themes in the first film as the third in any trilogy should. Having the robin origin complements bruce wayne's own origins in begins. I also suggest selina kyle because with rachel dead there's a love interest hole. (No Talia Al Ghul and Lazarus pit, it doesn't work with Nolan's universe.) Also Dark Victory would probably be a very appropriate title (without as much resonance or as many connotations as TDK Returns).
Bane would be good. And then they should just end the trilogy and kill off Batman. No ones going to return for a fourth film, its totally unlikely. Bale is already attached to Terminator and hes getting bigger by the day. Maguires getting 50 million for the next two spidermans. Seeing what both Batmans did, I couldnt imagine what Bale would get, especially considering hes definitely the bigger star right now.
Penguin is a lame character. Who gives a crap about this little fat dude with disformed hands and shit who eats fish. Hes lame, he shoudlnt even be a villian, hes not a match for batman.
Cat Woman. Who cares. The cat woman movie was a huge flop. Even though it wasnt attached to a Batman, the piece of crap that it was should show how lame of a character she is. And Angelina Jolie looks too much like a skank to fill michele phiffers shoes.
Riddlers been done. They have to go really far in order to make him not suck like he did in last movie. Hes not the worst choice if hes a really really really dark character. Jim Carrey could do it right if he was more Number 23 then he was Ace Ventura, but again, its been done.
Freeze could be cool if done right.
I think Bane would be awesome if done right.
The Nolan films are much more realistic then the previous films. The Burton Gotham city was like a giant cartoon.
Thats my two cents.
My vote is for Bane (not that this is by any means a democracy of course).
But the thought of Johnny Depp as the Riddler... With some of the stuff he's got under his belt, and with Nolan directing him and Bale to play off of... I really do think he could do it right. Head right by the turnoff into cheese-land and come out into the world of terrifyingly twisted psychopath where Heath Ledger unfortunately died.
No bright green spandex costume, no silly jokes, no simple crap riddles and pretty pictures...
Picture Johnny Depp, a mildly twisted smirk on his blood-spattered face, the twisted and disemboweled bodies of a group of office workers laying around him, using the blood of a young woman and a calligraphry brush to paint a message on the wall of an office:
To, (Bat Symbol)
(insanely complex cipher that nobody without a degree in cryptography could even look at without getting a migrane)
Love,
?