Warner Bros. has set December 16, 2011 as the release date for Sherlock Holmes 2Heat Vision reports that Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Barry Meyer spoke to investors today provided the film's release date along with other movies on their 2011 slate (although most of these dates had already been revealed).  Sci-Fi Wire also spoke with producer Joel Silver who said that Rachel McAdams would be "present" as Irene Adler, but wouldn't be the leading lady in the sequel.  Silver once again confirmed that Moriarty would be the antagonist this time around.  Shooting is set to begin this fall.

Producer Dan Lin told Steve last year that the rumors of Brad Pitt cameoing in the first movie as Moriarty was just Internet chatter and that he was not in that movie.  We recently spoke with screenwriters  Michele Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney talked about whether or not Pitt would be in the sequel.

Here's what the Michele Mulroney said about Pitt:

Well, of course, we’re gigantic Brad Pitt fans. I think he’s a brilliant actor and a particularly brilliant character actor. And certainly the role that you’re talking about of Professor Moriarty is a big character to bite off. I hope Brad likes it. Let’s leave it at that. To be political, we should say nothing. But, he’s wonderful. We couldn’t be bigger fans of Brad. So, we’ll see what happens. It’s going to be an interesting film to watch. We can say nothing about this.

I like Brad Pitt, but Moriarty is supposed to be older than Holmes.  I'm sure Brad Pitt could pull off the daunting nature of the character, but I would rather see a more left-field choice that gets people talking.