Batman - The Dark Knight

Original von Earin Shaad

Original von Grimnog
...Riddler Johnny Depp...

JAAAA! Das wär doch mal was!

Emboldened by this summer's success with "The Dark Knight," Warner Bros is setting a new strategy, reports WSJ. Script problems and poor results have forced the studio to put several comic book adaptations on hold. Now, it is expected that Warner Bros will release four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters.

However, both him and writer David Goyer intended to make The Dark Knight a standalone film, so that there would be no loose ends should a third movie never come.

Warners and Legendary are both interested in doing a third in the series, but all involved say it will be up to Nolan to come to them with a story and a plan.

?There are a lot of us who emotionally would love to do it,? Roven says. ?But it?s really Chris? call. Chris is the kind of filmmaker who just doesn?t think about the next movie before he has completely finished the movie he is working on.?

For now, Nolan is taking a well-earned vacation. Says Roven, ?When he comes back, we will see how he feels.?

?I think that?s the scariest thing ? to think, could we come up with a third movie that was as good as the first two? Can we top ourselves?? screenwriter David Goyer asked aloud, almost rhetorically, in a recent conversation with MTV News. ?Doing it a third time would be a big proposition.?

Make no mistake about it, though, a third film HAS been discussed, Goyer confessed, revealing that, while nothing is concrete, both a villain and a theme have been bandied about.

?We?ve only talked loosely about it, though, Chris and I,? Goyer said

The fact that Goyer has a theme he wants to keep in mind for a possible ?Batman 3? means he also has a direction, a crisis, and, yes, a villain.

So what is it?

?I have one,? Goyer said laughing. ?But I?m not going to tell you. Chris is very particular about that.

?I do think, though, that if there?s not a third film ? these two movies stand on their own,? he added. ?I think it could go either way.?

Spoilers Ahead:

So what are the plans? According to Eckhart, there aren't any. The actor has finally confirmed rumors that Two-Face actually dies at the end of the movie. "" he said. "He ain't coming back baby!"

Eckhart was hoping for a chance to come back, but that was not to be. "I asked Chris [Nolan] that question and he goes, 'You're dead' before I could even get the question out of my mouth. 'Hey Chris, am I?' 'You're dead!' Alright, cool."

He also stated that he was never meant to return, which is why his contract is only for one film, unlike Heath Ledger's. "No, I'm not coming back. I think unfortunately, Heath [Ledger] was supposed to go on and that didn't work out."

It's either fans are able to guess who will be cast in upcoming movies, or studios listen to the fans. Not too long ago, it was Johnny Depp who was selected as the man we most want to play The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman to play The Penguin in the upcoming "The Dark Knight" sequel. The problem is that we don't know if a third film will be made and whether those characters will be used.

MTV News had the chance to sit down with Michael Cain, who plays Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred in the franchise, to discuss the potential third film. It was then that Cain confirmed that both Depp and Hoffman are currently in talks with Warner Brother for the exact roles that fans suggested.

"They've already got them in mind," said Caine. "It's Johnny Depp as The Riddler. And The Penguin is Philip Seymour Hoffman. I read it in the paper."

Read it in the paper? So does that mean that Caine is simply reading us back the rumors that we publish? Not quite. He has confirmed the news with the studio.

"When Christopher [Nolan] said we were going to do 'The Dark Knight' next, I didn't know what that meant in Batman terms," said Caine. "I said, 'What's the story?' and he said The Joker. I said, 'Oh, sh*t! How are you going to top Jack [Nicholson]?' He said, 'Well, I've cast Heath Ledger. And I went 'Ha! I couldn't top Jack, but if anyone could, maybe Heath could.' And he did."

Caine continued: "I was with [a Warner Bros] executive and I said, 'Are we going to make another one?' They said yeah. I said, 'How the hell are we going to top Heath? And he says 'I'll tell you how you top Heath ? Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.' I said, 'Sh*t, they've done it again!'"

In an earlier interview, Depp said that he would love to take a role in "The Dark Knight" sequel. So, it seems that all the pieces are falling into place.

After spending a month in Florida, director Christopher Nolan sat down with LA Times to discuss the success of "The Dark Knight" and his plans for a third Batman movie. Here is what Nolan had to say:

"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."

"The Dark Knight" ended with the Joker's fate unresolved. So does that mean that Nolan will try to bring the Joker back for a second round? Nolan explains:

"No, really and in truth, I only deal with one film at a time. I find myself sort of protesting this issue a lot. We've never attempted to save anything for a sequel or set up anything for a sequel. That seems improbable to some people because, particularly with "Batman Begins," the film ended with a particular hook [with Jim Gordon showing Batman a Joker playing card announcing the arrival of a new villain in town]. But for me that was just about the excitement of people leaving the theater with the sense that now we have the character up and running. I wanted people to walk away with that sense in their head. You know, that he?s become the Batman in the movie. That's why we had the title come up at the end, because it was "Batman Begins," and it was all very specific to that."

If Nolan decides to leave the franchise, who should Warner Bros get to replace him?