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It should come as no surprise, but Warner Bros. has officially extended an offer to Christopher Nolan to create a third Batman franchise film, according to Variety.

"There's a deal for the director to helm a third picture, but he has yet to decide on whether to tackle it yet," said Alan Horn, head of Warner Bros. studios. "We have no idea where Chris is going with this. We haven't had any conversations with him about it."

After his success with "The Dark Knight," Nolan is very likely to sign on the dotted line for what some are calling "Batman 3."

Even if Nolan signs on to the next sequel, he isn't expected to begin work on it immediately. Word is that he will begin another project before getting back to the further adventures of the Dark Knight.

In related news, "The Dark Knight" was finally knocked out of the top position this past weekend by "Tropic Thunder" in the United States. It brought in another $16.4 million, down only 36 percent from the previous week, to come in second place. This ended a four-week reign of the box office.

However, at the same time, "Dark Knight" broke another significant record by warping past "Star Wars" to become the second-highest grossing movie of all time. The weekend's take brought "Dark Knight's" domestic total to $471.4 million, more than the "Star Wars" record income of $460.9 million.

"The Dark Knight" continues to be shown in theaters around the world.

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