Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Memento, The Prestige) is getting ready to shoot his next film “Inception”. There is a lot of speculation floating around the internet that Inception is really just a cover name for the next Batman film. This is specualtion that I myself do not share… but considering the hush hush secrecy of any details about the movie, you can understand why some people would leap to that assumption.
Nolan seems to like to jump away from Batman (after he did Batman Begins a lot of people thought he would just jump on the sequel… but he instead took a leave to do the Prestige) in between films, and so I’d be surprised if Inception wasn’t a totally different project.
That being said, it looks like Inception will at least in part film up in my home country of Canada and have a budget of around $200 million.
(Anyone who would like to complain about the cost of movie tickets today, forward your emails to Nolan)
The guys over at FirstShowing give us this:
The Calgary Sun reports that Inception will be filming in five different countries, although a “significant portion” of it will be shot in Kananaskis, outside of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “Nolan scouted nearby foothills and mountainous areas by helicopter and is said to have chosen Fortress Mountain as the main Alberta location.” The shoot will employ “hundreds, if not thousands, of local film workers starting this summer when construction on the elaborate set is due to begin.” Shooting is set to start in November.
While that is the most ridiculous and stupid little description of the movie, I do appreciate the idea of trying to keep details of the film under wraps for now.
Nolan is pretty much batting 1000% and hasn’t made a movie yet that I haven’t enjoyed (I think his movie “Insomnia” is hugely underrated) so you can’t count me in as being excited… even if we don’t know anything about the movie yet.
Still… I really don’t like that studios feel like they need to spend $200 million bucks to make a movie these days. Seems sort of out of touch to me.
It’s obvious he’s gonna do batman 3. The deal is for him to direct batman 3 in exchange for a 200 million budget movie. He’s not saying anything about the sequel cuz that’s what you do, you don’t wanna say you’re gonna do it then something unexpected comes up, you always stay ambiguous until you are sure.
Why is everyone complaining about how much it costs? It’s the STUDIO’S money, let them do what they want with it. It’s not like that money was going to make it into your pockets anyway.
Bigger budgets are being offset by a dramatic increase in international box office.
I think this dynamic has led to some really cool tentpole flicks over the last few years (Iron Man, DK, Transformers).
I wonder how this will play out effects-wise. Nolan doesn’t like to use CGI in his films and prefers traditional special effects. It’ll be interesting to see how that works out in a large-scale sci-fi blockbuster like Inception.
How does a film that supposedly takes place in the architecture of the mind cost that much? I am on board for anything Nolan makes but I thought the studios had grown out of this phase of excessive spending.
Maybe all of those locations are in the character’s mind?
Is the architecture of your mind that simplified and limited that it can be properly visualized with a much smaller budget? Just sayin.
My first guess would be that the effects are going to be a big part of this budget, but also consider the cast he has signed on, I am sure they will be a contribution to that budget too. I still say that he could be making another Batman film under a pseudonym even though there is no evidence to imply that is actually happening.
Yeah, the cast alone would be taking up a chunk of that money.
I’d rather a studio gives $200 million to Nolan to create a genuinely great film than give Michael Bay $200 million to film a series of mindless explosions.
Is “so you can’t count me in as being excited” a typo?
“(Anyone who would like to complain about the cost of movie tickets today, forward your emails to Nolan)”
I’ll gladly pay a higher ticket price to see a Nolan movie any day compared most movies out today. The guy’s films never cease to amaze me. Inception will be great, I know it.
what if, now just follow me for a second. Now what if he were to be filming Inception and at the same time he was filming some parts for the next batman movie, mostly second unit stuff, but still. Those are some really exotic locals, and batman doesn’t always stay in Gotham.
Hey, I’m just saying, and you didn’t hear this frrom me.
If the title was Rory Gets Hitched, then we’d know.
It’s not Bats 3. people. Give it up.
There is no way that this is a Dark Knight Sequel. One of the biggest reason’s is the fact that it is being shot in Canada. Everyone in their right mind can tell you that that 99% of Batman Begins and TDK was shot in Chicago. Secondly, why would Warner Bros. keep the next Batman movie under wraps. If they were producing another one with an expected 2010 release, wouldn’t you think that they would be hyping that shit up as much as early as humanly possible?
I can’t wait to see this in 2010!
By the way, what ever happened to the film adaption of The Prisoner? I thought Nolan was attached to that and quite frankly it was a perfect fit for him.
I heard that they’re just going to reboot the TV series but I have no idea if Nolan is still signed on to do a film adaption.
According to my sources (aka the voices in my head),
Hollywood is very skeptical of new IPs and usually they are kept to very modest budgets.
And if you really investigate, (I.e. go the IMDB page), there are three connections to BB & TDK. Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, and Ken Watanabe.
To take a parlance from comic books
WHAT IF:
The Title is Arkham: Asylum
DiCaprio as a Batman Villain (The Joker? or Riddler?),
Watanabe as Ras Al Ghul
Murphy as Scarecrow
Joseph Gordon Leavitt as Dick Grayson,
Marion Cotillard as Talia Al Ghul,
Secret casting a la Se7en : Christian Bale,
If I were a Hollywood exec I’d pay 200m for that.
I don’t think so. Nice to hear what the voices in your head are telling you, but I got a gut feeling this isn’t Batman 3. Nolan hasn’t received my script yet. :-P
That would be too cool to be true….even for Nolan
$200m is a lot of clams….but its also what freakin van Helsing cost to make.
Frankly I’m glad the money is in Nolan’s pocket, if only so its kept out of Sommer’s.
I assumed that Nolan would go for a “smaller” film after his blockbuster endeavour but it appears as if he’s set his sights on another one. Very intersted to see where he goes with this and I hope it’s every bit as cerebral as his other films with some great action.
Inception being the next Batman film would be one of the greatest marketing stunts in cinema history.
But right now, it’s just ridiculously played out guessing.
I sounds like its going to quite the big movie not just a small movie like the Prestige that he going to shot well waiting to see if he has something he wants to do for batman 3. This movie sounds great and the way it is cast to and it shows that Christopher Nolan and WB have a very good working relationship for them to give him 200 million for Inception whats to the see what they give him if he does batman 3
I completely agree that Insomnia is very underrated and comes under a lot of heat but I feel that it is a rare example of a good remake and it also boasts one of Al Pacino’s best performances of his career.
But, I have a theory as to why Insomnia is easily Nolan’s weakest film (even though I really liked it). It’s the only one of his films where he had no hand in writing. Every other Nolan film has had him take part in the writing for the movie and they’ve all turned out great. Insomnia is the odd one of the bunch where Nolan took no part in writing and I think that’s why it is Nolan’s weakest film.
That’s why I think Inception is going to be nothing short of amazing. Nolan completely wrote it himself.
I only think it’s a batman cover because of the secrecy. But anyway, 200 M, wow. Nolan is a genius so whatever this is, it will ROCK
I’m pretty pumped, I like the idea of real money being spent on an original IP for once. It feels like every “blockbuster” this summer is some sort of uneeded sequel or remake
Yeah, it’s refreshing to see an original film coming out in the summer season.
This is going to be one epic movie, I Hope Cillian Murphy will play Jonathan crane also in this movie, of Course thats me :]
I just hope his Murphy’s role is bigger than just a cameo in this film.
Of Course , i already got a contract for 40 minutes of shooting time. In The Dark Knight that was 5 minutes.
I tend to think the studio didn’t just decide to give Nolan so much money. I’m sure Nolan and his production team gave the studio a pretty sizeable number and they agreed or even upped the ante. If that’s the case Nolan deserves it. Coming off a movie that is now the no#2 all time domestic money maker with a total gross of over a billion dollars, Nolan should be able to call whatever shot he wants. That is until he makes a dude. That might be a long time coming considering his movies so far have been quite good to fantastic. Nolan’s track record has been quite impressive.
Don’t forget the movie will star the Leonardo Dicaprio, the same guy from the no#1 all time money maker.
Wow. I had no idea that the film would be this big! With a budget like that it’ll most likely go in the “summer blockbuster” section. I can’t wait to see this in 2010!
I just hope two things; that it’s awesome and that it isn’t The Dark Knight’s sequel. I really liked TDK but we don’t need the same old, same old right this second. Chris Nolan could become one of the world’s great directors, but he probably won’t get there if he is a one trick pony… Thankfully, he’s been far from that so far. I like your style. Go ahead and stretch your wings Nolan.
I agree…I can’t wait to see another Batman film, but I think it would be better if he did a film in between that.
Don’t let Christopher Nolan become the next Sam Raimi!
The next Sam Raimi? In what way?
I would say don’t let what happened to “Spiderman 3” happen to the third Batman film.
Sam Raimi used to be a horror director before he tackled the Spider Man franchise. Unfortunately he started focusing exclusively on the franchise (apart from recent endevours) and came to be known by the average movie-goer as “that guy who directed Spider Man”. Nolan is being smart in making other films before diving back directly into the Batman franchise so he doesn’t just become known as “that guy who directed Batman” like Sam Raimi.
200 million doesnt sound bad when you are giving “hundreds, if not thousands” of people work.
Very true.
Chances are that the movie itself could probably be made for 150 and the advertising is an extra 50 mill.