Next summer's highly anticipated 'The Dark Knight Rises' could be in quite a bit of trouble.

According to recent reports, writer/director Christopher Nolan ('Insomnia'), who revived the Batman franchise in 2005 with 'Batman Begins' and followed it in 2008 with the worldwide smash 'The Dark Knight,' may remove himself from the concluding piece of the trilogy owing to production and budget conflicts with Warner Bros., which is producing the film.

Nolan, coming off last summer's blockbuster 'Inception,' has apparently packed so much action into his 'TDKR' script that the budget has ballooned to over $430 million, which would surpass 'Avatar' and make it the most expensive film ever made.

A Nolan confidante dropped this (rather-biased) tidbit: "'The Dark Knight' made a billion. 'Avatar' made twice that. It's just nuts that Warners wouldn't give him carte blanche on this."

On top of the budget concerns, higher-ups at the studio are worried that the film's villains won't be quite the draw that Heath Ledger's Joker was in the previous film. They were quite pleased when Nolan cast the sexy and erudite Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, but from there a difference in opinion emerged:

Said a Warner insider, who was granted anonymity due to the ongoing dispute: "What the hell is an Alberto Falcon?" -- likely referring to the gangster role Joseph Gordon-Levitt was recently cast in -- "And if Catwoman's in this, don't we have to have the Penguin? Nobody's gonna buy an Alberto Falcon doll. Maybe if it was an eagle or a condor or something. What could Nolan be thinking?"

This won't be the first time a fan-favorite director backed out of the third entry in a comic book series. In 2006, Brett Ratner replaced Bryan Singer on 'X-Men: The Last Stand,' and fans were furious -- justifiably so, after that film failed to achieve the same level of quality as the first two.

"Sure, but which made the most money?" asked the same Warner representative. "Ratner's a genius. He's like King Midas, but with brains. If Nolan really does bail, you bet we'll be going after Ratner."

Other names being floated as possible replacements for Nolan include current 'Superman: The Man of Steel' director Zack Snyder, Catherine Hardwicke and the lesser-known Fred Walton.

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