Yesterday, half the Internet was pretty skeptical about Deadline Hollywood’s report that David S. Goyer and Jonah Nolan were forging ahead with the script for “Batman 3,” “The Dark Knight 2” whatever you want to call it. but it seems like DHD were on the money and they have a whopper of a story today.
Christopher Nolan is moving forward with a third Batman film, and Warner Bros. has also brought him on as a consultant for the next “Superman” film; a franchise property that they’ve been stuck on what to do with for years ever since the not-spectacular performance of “Superman Returns” in 2006.
WB is very keen on getting “Superman” off the ground again and they’ve apparently tapped Nolan to play a godfather role in the development of the next film. Evidently he’s finally cracked the “Batman 3” riddle — no pun intended, he didn’t have a story idea for a long time — and the aforementioned writers are moving ahead with the script.
Nikki Finke and Mike Flemming — who are becoming an incredibly powerful journo twosome — report that the next Superman film, affectionately known as “Superman 3.0” for now, is in the very early stages of development and it’s doubted that Nolan would direct (we agree). The idea is not a sequel to “Superman Returns” but a complete reboot, however, sources tell Deadline that, “Bryan Singer or Brandon Routh are not completely out of [the picture] yet. But Warner Bros doesn’t have a handle yet on it, either. [Producer] Jon Peters is trying to make something happen since he stands to benefit financially. But they [the studio] need to hear a great story that makes sense.”
Though in recapping the “Superman” history, Deadline speculated that Routh won’t be back and we couldn’t agree more. In fact, we doubt Singer will be back either. Both of them did a great job, but in the end, we believe WB will do a total overhaul, mark our words.
There’s zero details on “Batman 3” and where Nolan will go with it, but you can rest assured that every past rumor is total bullshit. Obviously it’s in the early planning stages as well, but with “Inception” hitting this summer, could they have it ready for summer 2011? Or is that too soon? We’ll see, but something tells us they’ll fine tune it until it’s right and in getting the right flexible schedules open, we’ll probably have to wait until 2012.
Remember in 2013, the Jerome Siegel heirs along with the estate of co-creator Joe Shuster will own the entire original copyright to “Superman” so it definitely behooves WB to get a “Superman” picture off the ground before then. After that date, WB won’t be able to get another supes picture afloat without a financial agreement with the heirs and that will cost them a bundle.
Additionally, a lawyer for the heirs also says, “if Warner Bros does not start production on a new Superman sequel or reboot by 2011, the Siegels could sue to recover their damages on the grounds that the deal should have contained a clause in which the rights returned to the owners after a given time if no film was in development.”
