WB wants to make a Sherlock trilogy, hires a writer for a third installment

Just about two months before the second Robert Downey, Jr. SHERLOCK HOLMES film, A GAME OF SHADOWS, is set to hit theaters, Warner Bros. is already moving ahead with a third installment, hiring writer Drew Pearce to work on a script. Though he has no finished film projects on his resume, he’s also developing IRON MAN 3 with Downey, Jr. and director Shane Black.

While it may seem a bit early to start developing a third film, WB was equally as bullish with SHADOWS, hiring Michele and Kieran Mulroney to write the script three months before the original film was released in 2009.

If we’re following the SHERLOCK-every-two-years schedule, that would put SHERLOCK 3 on tap for release in 2013. But given Marvel has already slated IRON MAN 3 for release that same year, that might be a little ambitious.

RDJ has become quite the little franchise machine lately, with the only films on his schedule – AVENGERS, IRON MAN, SHERLOCK HOLMES – part of big-budget franchises. This is all well and good but here’s hoping Downey, Jr. takes a step back in the next year or so and does some outside work.