According to Variety:
Warner Bros. is tying up a big deal with its “Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan for a big-scale sci-fi spec script titled “Inception” that Nolan wrote and will direct as his likely next film.
Production begins this summer, they’re eyeing a 2010 release. Man, at this rate a ‘Dark Knight’ sequel, probably can’t hit until 2012 at the earliest, right? That is unless they give it to another director which is probably not the case since its still WB who is shepherding, “Inception.”
A bit more plot info via THR, it’s apparently, “a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind.”
Nolan did shoot and release “The Prestige” (2006) between “Batman Begins” (2005) and “The Dark Knight” (2008) and it was basically three films in three-four years, give or take some start-production time for ‘Begins,’ but ostensibly he couldn’t even begin shooting the third installment until late-ish 2010, right?
It seems like WB is acquiescing to Nolan’s needs: let him shoot what he wants to keep him happy, so he’ll be good and ready to direct Batman 3 on his own good time. It’s a smart move. A rush job won’t cut it. They’ll be other films to keep them in the black for a few years, plus ‘TDK’ presumably left them flush for a while.