Christopher Nolan’s new Batman film, called “The Dark Knight Rises”, will be shot and released in 2D in 2012. Nolan’s been pretty clear about his unenthusiastic attitude towards the new 3D movement, but has avoided becoming the poster boy for a 2D revolt. Instead he has wisely chosen to choose the medium he will use on a film by film basis; something I think deserves a little respect.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Nolan explains the thought behind his decision for “The Dark Knight Rises”. “We want the look and feel of the film to be faithful to what has come before in the first two films,” Nolan said. “There was a large canvas and operatic sweep to ‘The Dark Knight’ and we want to make a film that will carry on with that look and feel.” “There’s an intimacy at times [with spatial illusion of the 3-D effect] and we didn’t want to lose scale…. Our ambition for the third movie is to complete a story that has begun. This is not starting over, this not rebooting. We’re finishing something, and keeping a consistency with what’s come before has real value.”
Nolan has, however, committed to releasing the film in IMAX, and will be using IMAX and high-definition cameras during the shoot.
Nolan’s vision of “pushing forward cinematically” without new 3D technology is a very interesting, and very different idea. It will be interesting to see how his film by film consideration for the new dimension will affect his upcoming Superman film, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.