Warner Bros is notoriously careful about its superhero franchises. Remember all that vacillation over how to reboot Superman? Bryan Singer's insipid Superman Returns was the result, departing cinemas without leaving execs any the wiser as to how to continue the series. Then there's the mess over Wonder Woman, a project that most might be pleased never to see on the big screen. Though in the hands of Joss Whedon it could presumably have provided some wondrous box office at the very least.
But their decision to ask Christopher Nolan to bring back Batman paid off royally when his second film about the caped crusader, The Dark Knight, blew almost everything else to smithereens at the summer box office. Since then, Warner has kept remarkably quiet on the prospect of a follow-up, although behind the scenes it has reportedly been encouraging Nolan to get cracking.
The British film-maker has steadfastly refused to commit himself to a third film in the series but last week's DVD release, accompanied by the usual interviews with cast and crew, seemed an obvious point to make an official announcement. Instead, Nolan has continued to talk, in increasingly repetitious fashion, about the challenges of making a third film. According to a new interview with USA Today, the film-maker has been jotting notes and doing some rough outlines for a new story, but hasn't yet found anything he's willing to commit to film for fear of blundering where others have blundered before.
"I don't know why [third films] are so hard to do," Nolan said. "Maybe there's so much expectation to them. But I wouldn't want to do one if it weren't going to be as good as the first or second. That's not respectful to the fans.
"It was obvious when the box office was so big that we had underestimated how ready fans were to reboot the franchise [but] the worst thing you could do now that you've gotten the plane back in the air is mess up the landing."
Which is all well and good, but it's now been close to five months since The Dark Knight hit cinemas, and there is still no sign of a follow-up. At the same time, Nolan has done nothing to suggest that he would consider passing on the project to another director. To all intents and purposes, Warner finds itself in limbo.
The problem is that we are talking about a film that currently stands at number four on the all-time global box office. And films that do that tend to find themselves getting a sequel whether they like it or not. Am I being too trigger happy to suggest that if Nolan continues to procrastinate, someone at the studio is, sooner or later, going to start thinking the unthinkable? After all, he may "own" Batman as far as the fanboys are concerned, but his name isn't inked in permanent marker on the deed of rights. Warner could continue the franchise with another director. Christian Bale is reportedly signed on for a third film and the studio would have no problem attracting a film-maker of enough calibre to assuage all the outraged Nolanites.
McG, who's currently busy rebooting Terminator for the studio, would no doubt jump at the chance, although I'm not suggesting for a second he fits the bill. The Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle director has done everything he can to remould his film in The Dark Knight's image: Bale has been signed up to play John Connor, leader of the human resistance, and Nolan's brother Jonathan, who penned the Batman sequel, has even been brought in to work on the script. One gets the impression that the only thing stopping the director dressing his star in tight black armoured PVC is that it's presumably hard to come by in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.
Terminator Salvation, which arrives in cinemas in June, is further proof that Warner isn't scared to continue the story when the film-maker who created it has long ago lost interest. Whether that's a good or a bad thing remains to be seen, but the latest trailer suggests it at least looks the part. McG has waxed lyrical about the need to stay true to James Cameron's vision and avoid favouring visual spectacle over characterisation, but we'll just have to wait and see as the trailer doesn't offer too many clues. Bale also looks like he's going to provide the right sort of angsty muscularity as Connor, but we should remember that the actor is just as capable of phoning in performances in insipid action fare such as Reign of Fire as he is of breathing life into Bruce Wayne. The jury's still out on this one.
Elsewhere this week, yet another post-apocalyptic Warner project, the prequel to Will Smith sci-fi vehicle I Am Legend, has started to take shape. Smith himself revealed some of the essential plot points while promoting his new film, Seven Pounds, in the US earlier this week.
"We have a fantastic prequel idea," he said. "we're still trying to work through a couple of bumps in the story. It's essentially the fall of the last city – the last stand of Manhattan.
"The movie would be ... within the body of the movie, [Washington] DC, and then Manhattan would fall as the last city. It's a really cool idea trying to figure it out ... there's a reason why we have to take a small band and we have to get into DC. So we have to make our way from New York to DC and then back to New York."
Fans of the first film will be pleased to hear that the Alsatian dog from the first movie will also be back, as a puppy, but personally I'm not convinced there's any need for Legend II. The original picture's bravura opening sequence, in which Smith's character boy-races around an empty Manhattan on the lookout for big game, had me thinking this was going to be a bombastic, All-American cousin to Danny Boyle's excellent 28 Days Later. But where the latter thrived on its low-budget, digital video aesthetic and used (shock, horror!) actual real human beings to play the zombies, the Hollywood version chose to employ the usual CGI monsters. And then there was that ridiculous ending.
How does Smith's description of the prequel strike you? Are you excited by the new Terminator Salvation trailer? And can you possibly countenance a Nolan-less Batman? Do let us know by posting your comments below.
