Batman's love interest Katie Holmes has been dropped from the next Batman instalment even as Christan Bale as Batman, Michael Caine as the butler, and Morgan as Lucius Fox have all signed to return.

Bale as Batman was the first to put pen to paper, followed by Caine and Freeman. But Holmes won't reprise her role as district attorney Rachel Dawes - reportedly because Warner Bros is angry her engagement to Tom Cruise has stolen media attention away from the movie, reports pagesix.com.

A source revealed to the site that "Everyone is in agreement that the movie's strength is with Christain Bale, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman." Adding of Holmes, "She won't be in the sequel... the next romantic interest will be a much stronger actress. Warner is happy that people are now focusing on who'll be playing the Joker rather than Katie and Tom."