Next Batman to Fly into Theatres in 2011

Now that Heath Ledger's won a stack of awards posthumously and The Dark Knight is raking in big at the box office despite being available on DVD for over a month, executive producer Michael Uslan (who's just as responsible for Christopher Nolan's stab at the franchise as he is Tim Burton's or Joel Schumacher's) has quietly confirmed that a 2011 release date has been penciled in for the next Batman feature. Not confirmed: the cast or Nolan's involvement.

Even while producing the second film, the director was wary of success to sequels that followed Batman Begins and mystified by its box office mojo. He further added, “How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? 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.” Uslan remains tight-lipped on the details, like potential successors to Rachel Dawes and working out the logistics of the Joker’s character. He says, “It’s one of those deals where if I told you anything about it, I’d have to kill you.” Somehow there seems to be a chilling certainty in his death threat. Or worse, a threat of forced interaction with Dawes’ first incarnation.