The man who began Batman and then darkened his knight will now lead the Man of Steel back up into the sky. DARK KNIGHT director Christopher Nolan has been hired by Warner Brothers to guide the new Superman movie they’ve been trying to make since 2006…
Relax, now. It doesn’t look like Mr. Nolan will actually be directing this.
Instead he’ll be a “godfather” to the production. I don’t know if that means he’ll be producing or executive producing, or if this is an entirely new kind of job title that will run in the credits. Maybe he’ll be make possible financiers an offer they can’t refuse, ah?
How will SUPERMAN RETURNS relate to this? According to one of Nikki Finke’s cadre of insider sources… the film “would definitely not be a follow-up." Another source went into more detail, saying…
“It Nolan [sic] coming on board follows a hiatus period for Superman after that 2006 reboot as the studio tried to figure out whether or not to make a sequel to that version starring Brandon Routh directed by Bryan Singer. As recently as this summer, Warner Bros was still contemplating how to proceed. We were told that ‘Bryan or Brandon are not completely out of it yet.’ But Warner Bros doesn't have a handle yet on it, either.”
The franchise has been dogged with various false starts over the years, with Tim Burton and Brent Ratner being attached as directors and Nicholas Cage and Josh Hartnet being attached as stars. I recall some statement a while back about the Wachowski Brothers even getting brought on to revamp the series, as well. After all of that, a source at Warner Bros. shared...
“We know what we don't want to do. But we don't know what we want to do. We learned a lot from the last movie, and we want to get it right this time."
While the last thing I want to see is a Superman movie that’s as restrained and down-to-Earth as the new Batman movies, I’ve learned to trust in Nolan. DARK KNIGHT was my favorite flick of ‘08, THE PRESTIGE my favorite of ’06 and I’m seriously pumped for this summer’s INCEPTION. Even if he's only "godfathering" this project, the guy knows what he’s doing.
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.