Batman Begins' sequel: The Dark Knight (Merged)

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/i...ory=0&id=31955

Thanks for posting this, Oscar. Here's hoping Nolan is up for more Batman stories.

After Batman Begins, I greatly look forward to a different interpretation of some of the batman villans. I hope we see this one.

Jeez, what the hell is Nolan's hold up? Get on it, bud! Let's avoid the possibility of another X3 (which looks like a disaster).

Since they've already set up The Joker, they should do The Killing Joke.

When I watched Batman:Beyond, I was thinking a great story would be "Arkham Asylum". Super dark, perfect for this series.

I really can't wait to see the character of Harvey Dent done right for the first time. There's so much potential with that character that has never been fully explored yet (at least in live action form).

Nolan's probably interested in tackling a smaller project in between, but I have great faith that he'll return to the helm. With David Goyer and that cast back aboard, there's no way he wouldn't want to continue what he started. There's so much GREAT printed material to mine here...Arkham Asylum, The Long Halloween, The Killing Joke, Night Cries, The Dark Knight Returns...the potential boggles the mind.

The more I think about it, I think Ralph Fiennes would make a good Two-Face, better than Jude Law (my initial first pick), actually.

Nolan probably wants to see (or work with Goyer on) a script first. It might be a while- Goyer is prepping a film he is directing starting in October, I believe, and also has a script for the Flash movie to write.

Assuming that Warners is aiming for a 2008 opening, I wouldn't expect to see wheels turning, contracts being signed, etc until next summer at least.

And what more appropriate film for Two-Face to appear in, than the SECOND film in the new series?

I wished they'd do a "Batman Beyond" movie

I'm glad to see that the Batman franchise is off to a good start again. Batman Begins is as close an interpretation to the comics as we'll probably get. With that in mind, I agree that perhaps The Killing Joke would make a good adaptation in developing the Joker for the sequel. I would love to see Two-Face as well but his omission from Batman Begins leaves me with some doubt. We should at least have had Harvey Dent introduced in it.

I would also like to see more time showing Batman's detective skills. He was always more than just a vigilante with those "wonderful toys."

I would have to disagree with The Dark Knight Returns being considered as a sequel or even later sequels. It is just way to early to tackle a story of such a magnitude. Keep in mind that this story was meant to stand alone from the rest of the Batman continuity.

Aside from the fact that Goyer has said he's actually not that big a fan of Killing Joke, one of the other issues with doing that story is we haven't had a real introduction to Barbara Gordon yet. Didn't we see Gordon have two rather young children in BB, or am I misremembering?

I suppose that the pivotal moment of Killing Joke could be done with another female character (maybe Rachel) but I think that would rob it of a lot of the power.

If the Joker does end up being in the next film, the first person that comes into my mind in that role is Kevin Bacon.

I'd be there first showing if Mark Hamill got the chance to play a live action Mr. J. Still my hands down favorite Joker, in any medium.

How about Adrien Brody?

You know who'd make an interesting Joker? Kevin Spacey. Or Gary Oldman--wait, he's already got a part in the movie...

You can't do The Killing Joke now. The Batman-Joker relationship has to be long-established for the heart of that story to work at all. That would have to be a fourth or fifth movie.

Honestly, I don't see why Batman and Spider-Man can't be multi-film franchises like James Bond.


Amen to that. He's the world's greatest detective; why does every single Batman film seem to miss that incredibly central part of his character??

And can we please skip Robin, at least for a while?

I wonder if Warner would allow Spacey, with him being their new Lex Luthor. I don't even mind if they skip the Joker for the first sequel. The card scene didn't have to be a setup for the movie as much as a nod to the audience that Batman's supervillain foes are on the rise. But, it's been four movies, and it probably is a good idea to get the Joker established early in Batman's career.

Isn't the rumour story for the second and third film that David Goyer talked about which I believed first appeared at www.batman-on-film.com was about ...


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count me in as not seeing Killing Joke as being a good basis for an initial Joker story mostly for the reasons Andrew supplied. "Jokers Five Way Revenge" is the kind of story they need to be looking at in terms of how to structure a first Joker movie. i wouldn't be expecting a straight adaptation- just a general riff on the storyline.
if you find yourself one step behind a maniac, eventually as the bodies start to pile up a pattern will emerge that illuminates the killers agenda as well as his background (origin).
and that kind of structure is a lot closer to Nolans heart than a linear origin of the character like you see in the Burton film.

and i hope they stay away from 'name' actors for the part. its just not neccessary. its the kind of high profile role that could turn an unknown into a name very quickly.

When a franchise has Caine, Freeman, Neeson, and Oldman, I wouldn't think they'd go with an unknown for a major villian.

I wonder if..

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I think the problem is that the budgets for these films tend to get out of hand..Studios get trigger happy once they see successful movies. Honestly, how far away are we from a $300 million budget for another spiderman movie? The added costs could come just from having to pay the actors more money due to the franchise's popularity.

If they cranked out one batman movie a year, they could probably do the major storylines before Christian Bale gets too old. That'll never happen though.

yeah, but those to me were to offset Christian Bale in the lead. not exactly a household name out in Peoria.

and if they need a name, how about George Cloony for Harvey Dent?

That would be interesting to bring in a former Batman actor as a villain.

That being said, what about Keaton or Kilmer?

I mentioned way back when that I thought Keaton would be a great Joker.

But I doubt Clooney would come back. He's got his thing, and wants to distance himself from B&R (which wasn't his fault).

Take care,
Chuck

I agree with some of the earlier posts, smaller name actors is what made Begins what it was. I think they should stick with that on the next one.

Are you kidding me? Bale is the only one in a major role that could come close to "smaller" name. Everyone else is either famous, has been nominated for an Oscar, or both.

(Alright, Scarecrow wasn't that famous either, but he's toplining that Red Eye flick, so...)

The trick isn't big name or small name. It's getting an actor able to become the Joker, not an actor whose persona is so large that the Joker must become him.

Red Eye is not that big a film though. It's the thriller de jour. It's Phonebooth or Cellular or The Forgotten, meaning that without a star in it the film will quickly be forgotten and Murphy will remain more famous for his Batman Role than Red Eye (IMO of course).

Bale was not a major star and his role is huge. Wilkinson is also not a "name" star. He's had success with awards, critical respect, but you don't lead a film with him to draw box office. You don't say Tom Wilkinson is in it and get people at the water cooler saying "oh yeah".

Oldman you can, though still he is more famous as being a great actor than as a movie star. Wannatabe is not a star and had zero recognition prior to Last Samurai, and still remains a "who" type of actor.

BB had tons of acting TALENT in it, but Katie Holmes might have been the 2nd or 3rd most famous STAR in the film. Go to the mall and poll people, ask them to talk about each of these actors, their roles, how they have heard of them, whatever.

Tell me that "Katie Holmes is dating Tom Cruise" won't be perhaps leading the list, with Michael Caine ahead of her in general recognition. Liam Neeson is in the ballpark of as well of course, thanks to high profile roles in films like Gangs of New York, Star Wars and Schindler's List among others.

More people know that Winona Ryder and Reeves were in Dracula than know that Oldman was the star namesake of the film.


So with that in mind I agree with you Adam when you say