The Dark Knight Rises next year, what about Batman after that?

The news is out about a Justice League film is in the works, but there's more.  We're about a year away from the release of The Dark Knight Rises; Christopher Nolan's third and final film in his Batman trilogy. That hasn't stopped Warner Brothers from planning ahead.  With news of the JL movie, came news of more Batman films. 

According to new president, Jeff Robinov, Warner Brothers has more Batman films to follow Nolan's version.  Robinov says that Nolan and his wife, Emma Thomas, will remain produces on the next set of Batman films.  Why this news scares me:  Look what happened with Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.  Tim Burton remained on as producer after his two Batman films, but Joel Schumacher found a way to butcher the Dark Knight.

I guess the same thing could be said about Nolan producing Zack Snyder's Superman film; but it's still something to worry about.  Is this a way for WB to keep Nolan in-house?  He has been a cash cow for years now, and I'm sure they want a long-term relationship with the director.  But what route do they take with the next incarnation of Batman?

Do they go Batman Beyond like the animated series?  Campy like the Schumacher variety?  How about more serious, reality based films like Nolan?  The character is so versatile, so complex, there's a million ways to do it.  How about a true Batman and Robin film?  One that features the Red Hood?  That would be amazing!  And, interestingly enough, could tie into Nolan's interpretation of Ra's al Ghul. 

With all this talk about the NEXT Batman franchise, do you think the CURRENT one will be neglected?  Let's hope not, because Nolan has his work cut out for him if he's planning on topping The Dark Knight.  What would you do with the next Batman franchise?

A stand alone Justice League film is in the works... for 2013?!

It feels like a case of deja vu.  A few years ago, just before the writers strike in Hollywood, we were supposed to see a Justice League film.  Now, the writers are happy, superhero films have flourished, and Warner Brothers is promising a Justice League film by 2013.

Warner Brothers owns DC Comics and is the sole distributor of all of it's films, unlike Marvel comics.  Marvel is owned by Disney.  Before superhero movies were the huge money makers they are now, Marvel licensed out its movie rights to various studios (Fox got X-Men characters, Sony has Spider-Man, etc.).  Even with various studios distributing their films, Marvel has created a film universe where all of its characters co-exist, culminating in The Avengers film. 

So is Warner Brothers taking a page out of the Marvel handbook?  Nope.  They're going to make a completely separate franchise, independent of the individual characters' films.  So we will not see Christian Bale as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman in the Justice League.

I have to be honest, at first glance, this made me upset.  Maybe because I'm a fan of continuity and love to see the same actors portray the same characters in sequels and such.  But this makes a lot more sense.  Marvel shot themselves in the foot by making Iron Man 2 a prequel to The Avengers.  That movie suffered greatly because of continuity issues (and a new actor for War Machine).  So maybe it's not a bad idea after all to make it a separate franchise.

There are multiple comic books going at once, why not multiple stories in films at once.  Everyone online seems to differ on this point, but I like it.  Hopefully the same skill, patience and story telling will go into the Justice League that Christopher Nolan has put into the Batman films.  Only time will tell.  With Green Lantern coming out this summer, Superman: The Man of Steel late next year, and a Flash film in development, this may be a BETTER culmination than The Avengers.  Your thoughts?


The picture above is from DeviantArt artist: daikaiju.