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I know, I know, these days saying a film will be 3-D is pretty non-newsworthy, but Christopher Nolan’s next BATMAN movie is definitely of great interest to many who read the site.  While promoting INCEPTION, Nolan recently answered questions with L.A. Times columnist Geoff Boucher, and touched upon something rather interesting regarding his inevitable sequel for THE DARK KNIGHT (which only made a billion bucks).

“Well, let me put it this way: There is no question if audiences want to watch films in stereoscopic imaging, that’s what the studios will be doing, and that’s what I’ll be doing.”

Nolan said “Inception,” the July 16 dream-world heist film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, could have ended up as a 3-D release. “We did tests on ‘Inception’ with the different post-conversion processes, and they all went very well. It’s quite easy to do, in fact. But it takes a little time, and we didn’t have time to do it to the standards that I would be happy with.”

Nolan said the craft of making a modern big-budget blockbuster with visual effects involved many of the same approaches needed for 3-D conversion. So, as a technical exercise, he finds it compelling but, as moviegoer, he has little interest in sitting in the dark with the finished product — at least in most cases so far.

“It’s all based on all the visual-effects technology, you know, that we’re currently most engaged in with match moving, so forth, and rendering 2-D imagery into a 3-D space. … On a technical level, it’s fascinating, but on an experiential level, I find the dimness of the image extremely alienating.”

What about shooting in 3D — as opposed to the post-production conversion approach? Nolan said that approach necessitated shooting in video, with big, bulky gear and a beam-splitter that required trade-offs with optics he was not eager to make. “There are a lot of problems with it … the idea of shooting a whole film through a massive beam-splitter and so forth — there are enormous compromises. Post-conversion technologies probably, for me, are definitely the future, but really it is up to the audiences what they want to see and how they want to watch their films.”

Nolan is due to start filming a third Batman film in March, and he and Emma Thomas, his producing partner and wife, will be the producers of a Superman film, adding a new cinematic chapter to the superhero property that launched the comic-book industry in the summer of 1938. Nolan didn’t say it, but it wasn’t a leap to infer that Warner Bros. would be putting pressure to make those movies into 3-D releases for 2012 and beyond — and that the filmmaker was hoping new 3-D advances would come to light by then.

“I’m certainly quite pleased with ‘Inception’ as presented — it’s very bright and very clear, so as the technology improves, those differences may change, and that is what I hope for.”

So there ya go, it’s probably a safe bet we’ll be putting on them glasses for the next adventure with The Caped Crusader.  Granted, I’m not opposed to the idea, especially because this is Chris Nolan we’re talking about.  Some of the IMAX stuff he pulled off with THE DARK KNIGHT was amazing.  The thought of him taking on 3-D really intrigues me.  How about you?  Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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