Christopher Nolan Returning To Direct More Batman?

[thecolorsblend]

Take this with as many grains of salt as you see fit. But sources say Nolan is coming back for another Batman film.

https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/exclusive-christopher-nolan-batman.html

I've heard from one of my sources that after the huge failure of Tenet Christopher Nolan is considering returning to direct another Batman movie and Nolan wants nothing to do with Ben Affleck. So Affleck could be out as part of Warner Bros. broader plan to lure Nolan back into the world of making Batman movies.

Christopher Nolan directed three Batman movies for Warner Bros. The final two movies in his Batman trilogy. The last two, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, are the two top grossing Warner Bros movies (domestically) of all time. Warner Bros has always wanted Christopher Nolan involved in the future of their superhero franchises, but he has always said no.

Now though, with movie theaters dying and Tenet flopping, word is that Nolan's stance on doing more Batman has softened and he's open to new ideas. My source (the same source that made Giant Freakin Robot the first outlet anywhere to break the news that Wonder Woman 1984 would release on streaming) tells me Christopher Nolan is actually considering it. In the past the auteur has flatly rejected the idea of returning to Batman, however the very public failure of Tenet apparently rocked him to the core as a director, and he's far more open to the idea of returning to the world Batman than he has ever been in the past.

Which Batman movie Christopher Nolan might direct is unknown. Christopher Nolan's grounded Batman films, unlike the more recent Zack Snyder movies, are a better fit alongside more recent successes like Joker. Joker, by the way, sits just below Christopher Nolan's Batman movies on the list of Warner Bros. top-grossing movies of all time.

For Warner Bros. this is a direction that obviously makes a lot of sense. And for Christopher Nolan, whose box office grosses have been declining steadily since he wrapped up The Dark Knight Rises, it could be just the shot in the arm his career needs.

There are many things that don't add up here.

For starters, Nolan has said again and again that TDKRises wraps up his story. Finito, no mas. Even if he was inclined to do more (I'll comment on that in a sec), he knows he'd be eating a lot of crow. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would enjoy the eat-crow click-bait stories that would surely ensue if he comes back to Batman.

Related to that, TDKRises ended on a kind of ambiguous note. Me, I think Bruce Wayne died in that explosion and the stuff from Gordon, Alfred and Blake's point of view is all wish-fulfillment. "Wouldn't it be great if he was still alive somehow?" Creating a new Batman movie will probably necessarily require clarification on Bruce's fate that Nolan has always seemed content to let audiences decide for themselves.

Second, unlike before, he's got competition now. There's Affleck, probably Keaton and definitely Pattinson. His Batman won't stand alone. Word 'round the watercooler is that Nolan had a hand in cancelling Justice League: Mortal. Why? Because it included Batman. And Nolan wanted moviegoers to associate Batman with him. How true is that? We'll never know. Because everybody who does know has every conceivable reason to keep his mouth shut. But personally, I always found it easy to believe that, at a minimum, Nolan was miffed about the possibility of another big screen Batman detracting from his own work.

Third, Nolan spent most of last week telling WB off. It would be quite odd for him to follow that up by developing a new Batman movie. Esp when he knows for a fact that any new Batman movie he makes is very likely to wind up on HBO Max, which I can't imagine he'd be open to.

Maybe I'm wrong but I'd be shocked and awed if Nolan ever comes back to Batman.

[The Dark Knight]

Where would a fourth Nolan/Bale film go?

Each Nolan film had an overseas location, so I'd keep that tradition intact and show Bruce and Selina still in Italy living a quieter life, but perhaps with Selina thieving or getting up to mischief/low key missions. But done in a way that doesn't push too far into Bruce's sense of justice.

I'd have them return to Gotham at some point. The question is why would they?

When they return, what do they see? If this was a true continuation, Robin Blake would have been fighting crime, either full time or part time. Crime would obviously still be a thing, because crime cannot be eradicated.

The question becomes does Bruce suit up again as Batman? He was already badly injured by the time of TDK Rises, and really had to build himself up for one last hurrah. The fanbase would want to see it happen, but I'm not entirely sure how it would play.

Does he simply be a mentor figure to a noble but struggling Blake?

I think it's more likely Keaton continues after Flashpoint in the mentor role. Would WB have another Batman project on top of Pattinson and Keaton? Sounds like crazy talk given that level of abundance, but I'd say so. It would be more about Nolan's willingness to continue. Which is the crux of this story, and everything that would hypothetically follow.

Right now I'm not entertaining the idea. It would be easier to let his series be.

[Silver Nemesis]

Second, unlike before, he's got competition now. There's Affleck, probably Keaton and definitely Pattinson. His Batman won't stand alone. Word 'round the watercooler is that Nolan had a hand in cancelling Justice League: Mortal. Why? Because it included Batman. And Nolan wanted moviegoers to associate Batman with him. How true is that? We'll never know. Because everybody who does know has every conceivable reason to keep his mouth shut. But personally, I always found it easy to believe that, at a minimum, Nolan was miffed about the possibility of another big screen Batman detracting from his own work.

IIRC, Nolan was also supposedly involved in getting the Graysons TV series cancelled back around 2008.

I'm sceptical that he'll return to the franchise any time soon. It might be the case that the studio is trying to persuade him to, and I understand the argument about the declining box office returns of his more recent projects. But I don't think Nolan cares about any of that. I remember a few years back when he said that he was focusing on making more expensive movies now while he was still able to get them financed, and that once his box office popularity declined – as he acknowledged it inevitably would – he'd go back to making smaller films like Following, Memento and Insomnia. If Nolan's career has reached that stage (and I'm reluctant to say it has, owing to the extenuating circumstances surrounding Tenet's performance), then I don't think he'll lose any sleep over it. He certainly won't go grovelling to WB for more Batman films just so they'll finance his other work. He'll just move on to the next stage of his career, which will probably entail making less expensive r-rated movies like the ones he started out with.

[The Dark Knight]

I'm sceptical that he'll return to the franchise any time soon.

Nolan returning with Bale would be a huge hook, but I also don't see it on the schedule soon, if at all.

Already, we have:

A Pattinson series with a GCPD show on HBO Max.
Flashpoint with Affleck and Keaton, with the latter potentially appearing a few times after that.

Batman wise, that's going to keep us occupied for the foreseeable future.

Keeping Bale as a three movie man would actually increase my appreciation of him, and I've been casting my eye back there in recent days. Keaton's return would add something to his character, whereas I can't say the same for Bale. It's a tidy tale that ended in 2012 and life goes on.