As part of her scoop about Christopher Nolan becoming the ‘godfather’ to the Superman franchise, Nikki Finke revealed that he’s also working on Batman 3 with David Goyer and Jonah Nolan. On some levels this is a no duh story, but on others it’s a big revelation. And it isn’t even a complete story yet.
With Batman 3 Nolan faces the prospect of competing with himself and what is (now) the third biggest movie in history. It seems massively unlikely that Batman 3, even if it’s the best Bat-film ever, will break the record set by The Dark Knight (unless they release it on thousands of 3D screens and overcharge by half for those seats. Hey, wait a second!). On some levels it would make sense for Nolan to retire while he was ahead, handing the franchise off to the next young buck who doesn’t particularly like comic books.
And that may be what’s still happening – Finke only says that Nolan has cracked the story for Batman 3, not that he’s directing it. Don’t be wildly shocked to hear that Nolan steps into a producer’s role for this film and hands the reins to someone else. Of course he may just jump in with both feet and complete the trilogy – at this point no one really knows.