Filming for the new Batman movie has started, but not in the usual location of Gotham City.

The production for the The Dark Knight will see Batman, played by Christian Bale for the second time, take his heroic action antics out of his hometown to Hong Kong.

The cast and crew of the new instalment are filming several scenes in the city, and residents have been clamouring to get a glimpse of the caped crusader.

Director Christopher Nolan explained why he's setting his latest gothic adventure in Japan.

He said: "I felt it would be a very interesting thing to take this iconic American character and put him somewhere else in the world and in looking for an appreciate location for that I immediately thought of Hong Kong because I think it is such an incredibly cosmopolitan place."

Bale, 33, explained that he was looking forward to scaling Hong Kong's skyline in his black catsuit: "I look forward to climbing to the top of your highest buildings and jumping off of them as Batman."

A sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, The Dark Knight will see the comic book hero tackling a new criminal nemesis in the form of Heath Ledger's Joker.

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