New Batman film called The Dark Knight Rises

Ledger won a posthumous best acting Oscar for his role as the Joker

The new Batman sequel will be called The Dark Knight Rises and will not be shot in 3D, Christopher Nolan says.

It follows the director's previous caped crusader films, 2005's Batman Begins and 2008's The Dark Knight, starring the late Heath Ledger.

UK-born Nolan, 40, told the Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blog he wanted "the look and feel of the film to be faithful to what has come before".

The Dark Knight Rises is due for release on 20 July 2012.

He told Hero Complex that the ambition for the new movie was to complete the story begun by the first two films.

"This is not starting over, this is not rebooting," he said.

Imax and high-definition cameras would be used rather than 3D cameras, he said.

Nolan refused to say which Batman villain would appear in The Dark Knight Rises but ruled out the Riddler - played by Jim Carrey in 1995's critically-derided Batman Forever.

British actor Tom Hardy, who appeared in Nolan's Inception, has been linked to the film and is tipped to play a villain.

His Inception co-star Sir Michael Caine, who played Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred in the first two films, seems likely to return.

Speaking last month, during promotion for his new autobiography, Sir Michael hinted he had other projects on the go "when I finish Batman, if I make Batman".