Fans rushing out to buy “Dark Knight” tomorrow on Blu-Ray or DVD may have to savor it for a while.  According to director Christopher Nolan, he’s not in any rush to make a third installment in the Batman series.
In an interview with USA Today, Nolan pointed out that the third installment in comic-book based movie franchises tend to not the turning point–and not in a good way.Â
“I don’t know why they’re hard to do,” Nolan said. “Maybe there’s so much expectation to them. But I wouldn’t want to do one if it weren’t going to be as good as the first or second. That’s not respectful to the fans.”
Nolan does have a few ideas that he’s put on paper, but nothing that’s really sparked his interest yet.  Warner Brothers is eager for the next installment to come sooner rather than later, but Nolan says he’s willing to wait for the right idea.
“It was obvious when the box office was so big ($530 million domestically) that we had underestimated how ready fans were to reboot the franchise,” he said. “The worst thing you could do now that you’ve gotten the plane back in the air is mess up the landing.”
Nolan also said that he put the same amount of reverence into producing the “Dark Knight” DVD as he did into bringing the movie to theaters. Nolan packed the discs with extras looking at the creation of Nolan’s Batman universe and how the IMAX technology was used to film several critical sequences. And while there will be a few deleted scenes on the sets, fans looking for more of Heath Ledger’s brilliant work as the Joker may be disappointed. “Dark Knight” has no deleted scenes featuring Ledger nor are there any outtakes from filming.
Nolan says he wasn’t keeping deleted scenes from fans. “For my past three films, I really haven’t had scenes that didn’t make it in the movie,” he says. “If it’s in the final script, I tend put it on screen.”
Any outtakes, however, were intentionally left off the DVD. “I don’t like outtakes or gag reels,” Nolan says. “I don’t think it’s respectful to the actors, who signed on to have their performance on screen, not the takes that didn’t work out. It discourages actors from going all-out if they think every mistake is going on the disc.”
Any outtakes, however, were intentionally left off the DVD. “I don’t like outtakes or gag reels,†Nolan says. “I don’t think it’s respectful to the actors, who signed on to have their performance on screen, not the takes that didn’t work out. It discourages actors from going all-out if they think every mistake is going on the disc.â€
I’ve heard this reasoning before and it never made any sense to me. While its true that the gag reels are funny its also a good insight into how hard it is to make a good performance. When I see an actor messing up his/her lines over and over then I see the final result, its more impressive. It just proves they aren’t gods, they have failings and those failings are very human.
Ah, and that’s precisely why outtakes are off the DVD. Although they act modest, all actors and directors secretly wish to be worshiped as Gods. I mean, who wouldn’t want the legions of followers that Gods have?
I bought the 2 disc edition and was disappointed at the extra features. I thought they did a great job with them when the first one came out but this last edition lacked either a tribute to Ledger or at least a look at the Joker’ s history in the comics.
Still a great movie though!
I loved the movie, but I was really disappointed with the DVD. There were no special features of interest. “Batman Begins” had more special features, and I was disappointed with that one too. At least that one took me more than 30 min. to get through.
As for the outtakes…it depends on what kind of film it is. You wouldn’t want to see outtakes from “Saving Private Ryan”. It is too serious of a movie. Same with this one. I think it will take away the realism of the film.