The announcement of Warner Bros.' plans to release basically all of their upcoming films on IMAX included what might be the studio's first official recognition that they're planning Batman 3 at all-- though anyone who doubted that was out of their mind. Now we've got even more confirmation: Production Weekly reports that Warner Bros. has set July 20, 2012 as the release date for Batman 3, which will of course be going by a different title.

You may remember that The Dark Knight came out on July 18 in 2008, and with Inception coming on July 16 this year, it's clear that the third week in July is seen as some kind of charm by Christopher Nolan and company. While the release date itself isn't surprising, the year they chose is something of a clue-- if they really want this movie to come out in two years, Nolan is going to have to start filming this fall, which means prepwork may already be happening at the studio. Sorry to secretive ol' Christopher Nolan, but Warner Bros. may have blown his spot-- there will be a lot of Batman 3 questions coming up on the Inception publicity tour.