Chris Nolan has been tapped to mentor the development of the latest Superman film, as well as work on the next installment of the Batman franchise, according to the folks at over Deadline.com.
Deadline’s inside sources his leadership will be integral to put the franchise in the right direction, thanks to his success with rebooting the Batman franchise. There is no news on whether Nolan is considering directing the film either. Granted, the latest Superman film is in the earliest stages of development, but sources say it will definitely NOT be a followup to Superman Returns. At this point both Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh might still be involve… but only time will tell.
If they are really interested in rebooting Superman again, they might need to act quickly. Rights to the character and its likeness revert back to creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster in 2013. According to Deadline, if production does not begin 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.”
Nolan right now has his hands full with completing Inception starring Leonard DiCaprio (set for a July 16th release), but he has hatched the idea for the next installment in the Batman franchise. As reported here yesterday, David Goyer has left as showrunner of his TV series Flash Forward to “focus on his film projects”. According to Deadline, he is off writing the third Batman film with Nolan’s brother Jonah Nolan.