Chris Nolan to Work with Studio on Superman Reboot

We reported last week that Time Warner Inc. executives were giving us somewhat of a tease that we would be hearing some big announcements in the next few weeks concerning the development of their associated DC characters.
Well, they didn’t disappoint. In an announcement that’s sure to spark the internet forums and have fans jumping for joy, if not disbelief, Warner Bros has confirmed that director Chris Nolan (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) is going to work with the studio in developing, what they consider to be the correct direction for the Superman franchise.
It was announced last summer that the plans were to scrap the story set up in Bryan Singer’s and Brandon Routh’s Superman Returns and do a complete reboot with the next installment. An insider stated that “we know what we don’t want to do, but we don’t know what we want to do.” Singer stated during the production of his tale of the man in blue tights, that he wanted to treat it as a 1930’s love story. Perhaps this was a result of his involvement with Peter Jackson’s King Kong, which was, in fact, a period piece being shot at the same time as Superman Returns.
After the success of 2008’s The Dark Knight, which lived up to its name, taking on a much deeper, meaningful feel than even its predecessor, Batman Begins, fans were calling for a darker Superman film. That was partly because of Warner Bros’ Jeff Robinov made the statement that the studio needs to “look at how to make these movies edgier”. Many fans squawked at the statement,however, crying the obvious differences between the DC characters, assuming that Robinov was referencing an intention to take the Man of Steel to a darker level.
Nolan is not set to direct the Superman film, but rather serve as a mentor. Its unclear at this time exactly what that entails, whether it be pitching story ideas or working alongside the cast and crew. One has to wonder, with the similarities in the timelines between Warner’s rights to the Superman film franchise and those of Marvel’s with the Disney merger, might the implementation of Batman’s director into the Superman universe be the guiding light needed to set up the two characters into the all so anticipated World’s Finest film.
Look for more information on this topic in the very new future. In the ongoing case between Warner and the heirs of Superman’s creators, Joe Shuster and Jerome Siegel, attorney Marc Toberoff stated that in 2013 the heirs would own the entire original copyright to Superman.
“Neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters”. Higher on the priority list, however, if a new Superman film is not underway by 2011, the Siegels could sue for damages if a judge ruled that a clause should have been created within the original deal.
Personally, while interesting, I’d rather stay out of the legalities and just see a good film. As a lifetime fan of the character, I’ve yet to see anything on the big screen other than Richard Donner’s Superman The Movie that rivals even some of the worst story arcs from the comics. With Nolan now a part of the hysteria, maybe we’ll get something deserving of the red cape.
I’m sure all of the fans have their own versions of how the next movie will play out. So, we can start it here. Send me a comment and let me know what you as the ticket buyers want to see. What villains. What mood. Whatever.
Reader Comments (7)
Oh.. my.. god.. this is great news
as for villains, I'm dying to see "The Death of Superman" done correctly, but to be realistic I think it would be hard work to do Doomsday without sacrificing the "it-could-happen" moments which Nolan seems to like, on the other hand we are talking about a flying alien with a cape :)
I just hope they don't go with Lex Luthor again, I have gone way beyond sick of Lex even though he is a badass he is rarely given justice by the writers.
I kind of don't care though when I think about it, I really just wan't to see Nolan's input on this and as I've said before when people doubted Heath Ledger as the Joke.. In Nolan we trust.
it's about time.......
Uhm. Warners has confirmed this? Source please. Every other site is reporting this as "sources sources say".
I have doubts about any director coming from Batman (or any other comic franchise) and trying to work on Superman. It just hasn't worked. I'm interested in seeing how this plays out though. If this is strictly a "mentor" role, perhaps he will just be laying some "ground rules" on how to establish Superman and perhaps the other characters in the type of world he created for Batman. This could be good news for anyone hoping for a shared movie DCU.
WB has not yet officially confirmed this or Nolan’s involvement with either franchise. I think allot of people were expecting an announcement sometime between now and summer, being the news presumably leaked if true; I think it’s quite possible something from WB/DCE will coming allot sooner.
Also the Time Warner conference call recently in which Jeff Bewkes stated we'd be hearing something in the coming weeks in regards to DC should be taken into consideration, Look at the news about Clash of the Titans moving release dates and being converted to 3D in post; that news was leaked early via "sources" and shortly after it was made official by WB.
Hell yeah!!!! Nolan and the Bat are back.
Interesting, hope we get some official news soon. Until then I have this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEF8_I0n_wk&feature=related