Big Stupid Bat Rumors

Hey guys, it's Donnie...The Bat Rumors continue to swirl about, getting more and more ridiculous by the day, especially considering the fact that technically there is no movie yet. While I think it's pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point that another Batman movie is gonna happen, technically speaking, Warner Brothers hasn't given the green light, and neither Chris Nolan nor David Goyer were signed to multi-picture deals. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only people who were signed to multi-picture deals were Christian Bale and Gary Oldman. Peculiarly enough, I think Michael Caine's deal was for one picture only although he's on record as saying that he'd love to come back to do another. So at this point, the next Bat-Chapter has no director and no script and so any casting rumors you might hear are certainly premature.

But that's never stopped the Hollywood rumor mill before, so why should this be any exception?

I think it's pretty clear that whether or not Nolan and Goyer return, we can probably expect to see the Joker next time around, and the list of candidates continues to grow, this week adding Paul Bettany to the mix. I don't think I'd really have a problem with that. We haven't really ever seen him as the evil villian yet, but that'll all change next year with The DaVinci Code. And the guy's got some serious chops, so I think he could pull it off. Either way, the list of potential Jokers is really pretty damn solid.

Isla Fisher, the so-called "stage five clinger" in the upcoming Wedding Crashers is rumored to be Katie Holmes replacement as a love interest, supposedly because of her "in with Warners" after the disaster that was Scooby Doo, but I really wouldn't put much stock into that. The same rumor said that Katie Holmes was "dumped" from the sequel because the Warners execs were pissed about the silly silly press her and Tommy Cruise have been getting. But her contract wasonly for one movie from the outset anyway, so whatever. I have a feeling this rumor might just be Isla Fisher's publicists trying to generate some buzz before Wedding Crashers hits theaters. As opposed to rumors about Joker, a character we're all pretty familiar with at this point, casting rumors for a female lead character that hasn't been written yet are pretty much beyond silly. Personally, I'd kinda like to see the next Bat movie go sans love interest.

Speaking of beyond silly, the final bit of Bat-Ridiculosity is a rumor that Warners is trying to get none other than Justin Timberlake to play Harvey Dent/Two Face. Aside from the fact that Timberlake seems a bit young to play Gotham's district attourney and that it reeks of stunt casting, I'm gonna reserve judgement on this one. I'm sure that it has next to no credence, but we've yet to see Justin Timberlake the actor, so I won't criticize his supposed skills just yet. I'm actually genuinely excited to see Edison just to see if the boy's any good.

Anyway, despite War Of The Worlds' takeover at the box office this weekend, (Shocking. I'm shocked. This is me...all shocked.) Batman Begins has continued to rake in the dollars, especially in IMAX, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get an official greenlight announcement at next week's ComicCon, along with lots of other exciting news. Once again, Bryan Singer will be there with some exclusive video from Superman Returns and once again I will sit in my cubicle and wish I was in San Diego.