The Pittsburgh Film Office announced today [5] that the upcoming Warner Bros / Legendary Pictures tentpole The Dark Knight Rises will shoot in the Pennsylvania city this summer.

“Film production means jobs for Pennsylvanians, it’s as simple as that,” Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office (PFO), said in a statement. “A single film can mean millions of dollars and many local jobs. A franchise as prestigious as Batman opens our region up to an entirely new audience as filmmakers and studio executives experience southwestern Pennsylvania.”

The final entry in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is scheduled to open on Jul 20 2012. The filmmaker said he chose Pittsburgh with its architecture and diverse locations in mind.

“Pittsburgh is a beautiful city,” Nolan said. “We have been able to find everything we were looking for here and I am excited to spend the summer in Pittsburgh with our final installment of Batman.”

“We are thrilled to be welcoming the Batman film to Pittsburgh, and eager for the economic impact that our city will experience,” Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl added. “This is another example of the growing film industry in our community and we will be rolling out the red carpet for them.”

Keezer has been director of the PFO for the past 17 years. Since 1990, the Office has assisted more than 101 feature, television and commercial productions and brought an economic impact of more than $575m into the region.