Rumors are heating up that director Christopher Nolan will bring Christian Bale to Detroit to film part of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Warner Bros. has confirmed that the third "Batman" movie will be shot in Los Angeles, the United Kingdom and a third location, yet unrevealed. It may be New York City or Detroit - the unconfirmed rumor about the latter city coming from a Reel Chicago blog stating that the production will forego the Windy City, where the first two films were shot.

If "The Dark Knight Rises" indeed lands in Detroit, Michigan will be the location for arguably the year's two biggest productions - part of "The Avengers" is filming in the state sometime between April and September.

Both films are slated for summer 2012 release: "Dark Knight Rises" in July, and "Avengers" in May.

Listen to me talk about "The Dark Knight Rises" (and new winter movies coming soon) here:

E-mail John Serba: jserba@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johnserba