So where next for the Batman animated film series?

So far, we've had adaptations of Year One, Under the Red Hood, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman and Son and now Court of Owls and Born to Kill.

Which Batman stories/events should they take a shot at next? Within the 'New 52' series and outside it?

Here are a few options-


Batman and Robin/Return of Bruce Wayne: Apparently, DC wants to continue to explore Grant Morrison's run in the animated range. And so far, the New 52 Batman series has been pretty Damian focused, but they've also given Dick Grayson a presence. My guess is that an adaptation of Morrison's 'Batman and Robin' with Dick as Batman could well be on the cards.
In fact, they could possibly combine that story with 'Return of Bruce Wayne'. Maybe we could have a two-part film (or one pretty long film...at least 2 hours) which deals with Bruce being zapped back in time, Dick and Damian becoming the new Dynamic Duo, and Bruce fighting his way back to the present.
Best case scenario would be to have two films - first film begins with Bruce's 'death' and Dick and Damian becoming the new Dynamic Duo. And maybe the cliffhanger at the end reveals Bruce is alive in the past. And the second film is split between Bruce fighting his way across different eras, and Dick and Damian uncovering clues left behind in the past, and dealing with Simon Hurt in the present.

The Man who Laughs: This could be done as a standalone, or as a 'flashback' story within the New 52 series. We've hardly ever had a 'Batman meets the Joker' story in animation (I think the first episode of 'The Batman' is the only one in fact) so it'd be great to see an adaptation of this graphic novel, itself a modern retelling of the very first Joker story. Plus, it WOULD function as a spiritual sequel to 'Year One', just as the source material did.

To Kill a Legend: I've always been fascinated by this story. It simply has a very compelling premise - Batman being given the chance to stop his parent's murder in an alternate reality, and thus potentially deprive that world of its own Batman. It'd make a compact and great story, perfect for adaptation to a 60-70 minute film. I'd ideally make it a standalone and do it in an animation style that is a throwback to the 70's/80's Batman comics...perhaps something similar to the BTAS designs. Also, I'd have Dick Grayson as Robin...about time we see him as Robin in one of these animated films.