Before we begin: yep, we know it's not really Batman 3, but it seems to make sense to call it that, given that the follow-up to The Dark Knight will be, effectively, the second follow-up to the Batman Begins reboot.

That cleared up, some fresh rumours have been surfacing about the next Batman movie. The first is that there are plans afoot to shoot the entirety of the film with IMAX cameras. To call this a bold move, given the cumbersome nature of such cameras, would be showing a slight taste for understatement. Yet according to AintItCool, director Christopher Nolan - a fan of the IMAX format, as anyone who sat through the IMAX-filmed sequences in The Dark Knight is likely to appreciate - is looking to follow through on his previously voiced desire to do a whole feature using such technology.

This rumour, of course, also assumes that Christopher Nolan is back on board the project. That was given fresh impetus by the confirmation the other week that Nolan had dropped his planned big screen version of The Prisoner, which some were speculating meant that once he was done and dusted with his current project, Inception, he would be assuming the Batchair for the third time.

While we're rounding up the speculation and rumours, it's over to The Sun, which is now reporting that, not only is work beginning on another Batman film, but that it'll be before the cameras next year, for a release in 2011 (which would, of course, pit it against Spider-Man 4, amongst others). The Sun goes further, and declares that its sources are telling it that Megan Fox - who seemed to be linked with every major blockbuster female role at the moment - is signing up to play Catwoman.

Of all of these, we suspect that Christopher Nolan may, indeed, be returning to the franchise, and also the IMAX story sounds plausible from where we're sitting. But there's just as much chance of me playing Catwoman in the next Batman film (well, okay, the odds are slightly more in Fox's favour, for one or two reasons, but we still can't see this one happening).

Expect the rumours to keep churning until Mr Nolan is done and dusted with Inception, and reveals what he's up to next...

The Sun
AintItCool