Gary Oldman Claims 'Batman 3' Shoots Next Year

It's exciting news, but is it accurate? At Comic Con, Gary Oldman said, "Batman will start shooting next year. So it's two years away. But you didn't hear that from me." Now last year, Michael Caine said Johnny Depp was going to play The Riddler and that didn't pan out, so I don't know that I'm necessarily going to believe one of the supporting actors just because he opens his mouth. Would I like to believe Oldman? Yeah. But I don't. There is no way in hell Warner Bros. will give away its July 15th weekend (or whatever two weekends after the Fourth of July is in a given year) that The Dark Knight held last year. The studio loves that slot so much that Harry Potter was moved there after The Dark Knight started making enormous amounts of cash. Next year, Warner Bros. has Christopher Nolan's Inception occupying that weekend, and of course, he's the director of the Batman movies. The year after that: Harry Potter again. So you see the problem: Warner won't move Potter, which is now established on that weekend, too, at least in the superstitious way the studios look at specific weekends. Why do you think a Marvel superhero now kicks off summer whenever there's a Marvel superhero movie in the summer? The beancounters and executives have it in their heads that audiences care exactly when these movies are released. In this case, Potter is already locked in for July 2011. So either the studio delays that film or the Batman movie won't, in fact, open that month. Still, it's good to think that they're getting right after it, but Nolan will be pretty occupied with Inception until next summer and we know he likes to take some time off between projects. There is, of course, the possibility that Nolan won't direct it, but I'd rather not think about that.