The Imax Bat?

An interesting rumor about the currently untitled third Batman film has recently cropped up online. While it will most likely pan out to be nothing, it's still very interesting and would be awesome if it happened.

Various respectable sources across the web are stating that Warner Bros. is deeply considering filming the next installment of the Batman franchise entirely in Imax, and we're not talking about the new Imax Digital stuff being used on films like Avatar and Tintin, but rather the legitimate 70mm film stock. While twenty minutes of The Dark Knight were filmed using 70mm Imax film, the result was greeted with such great critical and commercial response that they're really interested in possibly giving Chris Nolan the chance to do the third outing entirely in Imax.

I for one think this is a spectacular idea. While I was never able to see The Dark Knight in Imax, I heard it was astounding, and even still I could tell a noticeable difference between the quality of the image and the depth of the world in all the sequences that were shot in Imax even without ever seeing it on an Imax screen. For this reason I am totally behind WB doing it all in Imax, it will definitely give the world more scope and overall more detail. Of course the drawback to this is that Imax film stock and cameras aren't cheap.

The Dark Knight had a budget of $185 million and that was with only twenty minutes of the film being in Imax, so it's safe to assume that if the third Batman film was shot entirely in Imax it could cost anywhere from $225 to $275 million. That's a lot of money to invest in just one movie. Of course The Dark Knight is the most successful film of this decade thus far, so it is entirely reasonable for Warners to conside plopping down the necessary amount of dough it'll require to make this a reality.

But I think it is important to keep this all in check, nothing has been set in stone, technically director Chris Nolan hasn't even officially signed on yet. Anyway, to keep up anticipation, take a look at the trailer for Chris Nolan's latest film, Inception, which hits theaters next summer. I'm highly excited for this film, even if it isn't Batman 3.