Director Christopher Nolan still isn’t saying whether he’ll return for a third Batman movie, but he’s not exactly ruling it out.
Geoff Boucher of The Los Angeles Times asks Nolan whether he could see himself not directing a third installment. The answer? It’s “suitably slippery”:
Well … let me think how to put this. There are two things to be said. One is the emphasis on story. What’s the story? Is there a story that’s going to keep me emotionally invested for the couple of years that it will take to make another one? That’s the overriding question. On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name? [Laughs.] 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. It’s all about the story really. If the story is there, everything is possible. I hope that was a suitably slippery answer.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:12 am
It comes as no suprise to me that Nolan is considering such realistic issues as “crappy third movie”. No sarcasm, I’m really glad his priorities are:
1-Story
2-Not sucking
That’s why he’s the best director around. Those two things are the only priorities a good director needs (unless you add casting).
October 28th, 2008 at 11:20 am
The story would involve redemption.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Nolan is right to be hesitant. But I doubt that his unwillingness to do a third film will stop Warner Bros. from doing one with or without him. It would take getting him and Bale together to maybe derail a third film, and given that the last series went through three actors, even that won’t be enough. There is no reason to think that anyone learned from the mistakes of the past with Batman. So Nolan and Bale might wonder if it would be better for them to do an okay film rather than let things go awry again.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:56 am
ironically, i thought The Dark Knight was awful. but however much i disliked the film, i still found this interview with Nolan to be very interesting. i think his view on making another Batman film is extremely healthy. i mean, let’s be honest, there is going to be another. it’s just unclear whether or not Nolan will be there. and he seems to have all the right reasons for making his decision.
BUT my real reason for commenting on this post is to speculate on the question in the title. i thought hard about this yesterday after i read the interview. superhero films have been lucky in that the second one tends to be even better than (or equal to) the first. but has there been a good third one yet? not X-Men, not Spidey, not Bats, and not Supes. that’s all we’ve had so far, right? Bats would definitely rank the highest in terms of quality third film. beyond that, the others were pretty bad.
October 28th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Rocky III.
Return of the King, but that might be considered cheating.
Goldfinger.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Return of the Jedi.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
My take…
1)LOTR: Return of the King
2)Harry Potter/Azkaban
3)Goldfinger
4)I liked “The Bourne Ultimatum”.
5)Your mileage may vary on Jedi; it’s flawed, but has some great bits.
6)The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, if you count it that way.
7)Son of Frankenstein is GREAT.
8)I have affection for “King Kong vs. Godzilla”, which was the big lizard’s third, but I’d hesitate to call it great.
9)Last Crusade.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Nightmare on Elm Street part 3
October 28th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
“Police Academy 3″ never gets any respect.
October 28th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Yes, Warner Bros. will do a new Batman movie whether Nolan is involved or not but you have to give the guy credit for not jumping in and rushing out a half-assed sequel. He’s too smart and takes his work too seriously for that. All I have to say is that Nolan is the only guy I would trust to make a really great Batman movie at this point.
He’s right about sequels. I think it’s best he chew it over and give it a good think.
October 28th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
- Day of the Dead (disliked at the time but now considered a great horror movie)
-ST:DS9
-Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (also known for giving professional wrestling storylines for the next decade)
-Evil Dead III
-Escape From The Planet Of The Apes
-Toxic Avenger III: The Last Temptation Of Toxie
October 28th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Both X-Men and Spider-man were good movies, they werent great or as good as the other movies, but if you take off the negative-hype glasses they really are good
October 28th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
I can’t understand how any could find TDK “awful.” It wasn’t your average comic book film by any stretch, but I think it’s the movie that transcended its geeky genre. It’s not just a great comic books film. It’s a great film, period.
I think all the hype, acclaim, and success of TDK has caused people to overlook just how damned good Batman Begins is, however, but then again I know people who never saw BB and finally did after seeing (and loving) TDK.
For me, TDK is akin to The Empire Strikes Back. The middle chapter that ends on a dark, somber note, but with the promise of a brighter day (or at least redemption) in the third installment. I trust in Nolan and Bale to make sure that third movie will be on a par with the first two. It’ll be a tough act to follow, and I’m not sure where they’ll take the story (or what villians they’ll use at this point), but there’s no reason to think they won’t pull it off again.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
@ Cory!!: Good call on Deep Space Nine… The third Trek series, and (arguably) the best of all the Treks. In a lot of ways, that show was ahead of its time. People who worship BSG and its mastermind, former DS9 writer/producer Ron Moore, should go back and discover what DS9 was doing.
I’ll throw Star Trek III: The Search for Spock on the list too. It’s certainly not as good as either ST II or ST IV, but it’s a decent, necessary middle chapter to what I always considered be a trilogy unto itself. In fact, it’s a trilogy that I’d say is every bit as good as the original Star Wars trilogy, albeit for different reasons.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Definitely Goldfinger; the Good, the Bad and the Ugly; and HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Animal Crackers was pretty good too.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:50 am
I don’t care what y’all say, Alien 3 is a great film.