No Nolan for Batman 3?

In what some will see as karmic balance to our story on Bay being off Transformers 3 , it seems that Christopher Nolan and Batman 3 is far from a done deal.

A trusted source of Batman On Film has told them that the director is still unwilling to sign on for a third outing. From the site:

The death of Heath Ledger in January of 2008 rocked Mr. Nolan hard. So hard that Chris was convinced that TDK was going to be it for him and Batman on film.

The Joker was going to return in BATMAN 3.

“You are correct in reporting that he is developing story ideas with [Jonathan Nolan] and David Goyer, but it will be until AT LEAST 2012 before we see the Caped Crusader back [in theaters]. And that is only an EARLY ESTIMATE at best right now. They are even saying it might not be until 2013.”

Basically, the BATMAN film franchise is back to square one. As far as a story or a BATMAN 3, “Right now, there is none,” says our guy.

The question is, will (or can) Warner Brothers afford to wait that long?

Rumours that Zack Synder is being considered as a replacement are still circulating and a five year hiatus for Batman movie seems ludicrous. Especially given the money The Dark Knight took.

At any rate, Nolan is occupied with new movie Inception until 2010.