Warner Bros. has staked a claim on July 20th, 2012 for the sequel to the hugely successful The Dark Knight.  Christopher Nolan, who returns to direct his third Batfilm, is currently putting the finishing touches on Inception, which opens July 16th.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan is also starting to work with David Goyer to fashion the story for his third Batman movie.  The film doesn’t yet have a title, and no date has been set for the start of production, but the July, 2012 debut means that the Batman opus will be Nolan’s next project.

The third Batmovie opens just two-and-one-half weeks after Sony’s rebooted Spider-Man bows on July 3rd, which certainly won’t give the new Spidey franchise much “leg” room.  The summer of 2012 is already shaping up as a very competitive season for pop culture-inspired tentpole films at the box office.  Marvel’s Avengers kicks off the summer movie season on May 4th with the big screen adaptation of Hasbro’s Battleship set for May 25th, and a sequel to highly successful Star Trek reboot now set for June 29th followed by Spidey and Batman in July.