It appears Warner Bros. really is reintroducing its Batman franchise.
The studio has chosen "Batman Begins" as the title of the fifth installment, described as an origins story of how billionaire Bruce Wayne becomes the Caped Crusader and faces his first foes in Gotham City.
For months, online fans had proclaimed that Warner Bros. was calling the film "Intimidation Game." But the studio had been using the title as a code name to thwart fans from following the project's development; it never intended on using the name.
The tactic of secrecy is obviously a challenge as details (or alleged details) of the film continue to leak onto the Web on a daily basis. WB announced the title of the pic, which starts lensing next month in Iceland and London with Christopher Nolan at the helm, to the online community Thursday.
"Batman Begins" follows "Batman," "Batman Returns," "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin."
Christian Bale stars as a younger Bruce Wayne/Batman. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe and Katie Holmes round out the cast.
Contact Marc Graser at
marc.graser@variety.com