Christopher Nolan has spoken on the issue of his return for Batman 3. And his answer is: maybe.

The LA Times has caught up with the director, who recently returned to Los Angeles after time away counting his money. They promise a three part interview and the first part is up now (and includes a stunningly annoying little exchange that essentially laughs at people who want to find subtext or meaning in a motion picture), and they get right to the goods. Nolan's thoughts on coming back for a third movie:

Well ... let me think how to put this. There are two things to be said. One is the emphasis on story. What’s the story? Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? [Laughs.] At the same time, in taking on the second one, we had the challenge of trying to make a great second movie, and there haven't been too many of those either. It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible. I hope that was a suitably slippery answer.

He also says that he has no idea what the story for the next film would be, claiming he and his brother and David Goyer weren't setting anything up for a sequel. I don't know why anyone doubts this - a look at The Dark Knight shows a movie so crammed with stuff because these guys weren't willing to save anything (like, for instance, the Waynetech employee who tries to blackmail the boss. Or a satisfying conclusion to Two Face) for the sequel.

Click here to read the whole interview, including Nolan's musings on whether he might do another small(er) film next.