Whoa! Christopher Nolan Tapped By WB to “Mentor” Superman Reboot; Has “Hatched” An Idea For Batman 3

It seems as though Christopher Nolan is the new CEO, Chairman and creative controller of Warner Bros. He re-defined the superhero genre with his dark, gritty, character-driven reboot on the Batman franchise. Nolan’s Batman films have grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, garnered universal critical acclaim and 10 Oscar nominations. He gave WB first dibs to buy his original script for Inception, which they gobbled up before any other studio could even look at it. Now, with time running out on WB’s copyright claim to the Superman property, which expires in 2013, they’re pulling out all the stops to make sure this newest incarnation of the Man of Steel proceeds in the right direction; by having Nolan “mentor the development” of the project.

Nikki Finke at Deadline.com has the scoop of Nolan’s new role as “Godfather” of the Superman reboot. Nolan is NOT directing or writing the Superman project (at least not yet anyway). The last we saw of the Man of Steel on the big screen was in 2006 with Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, starring Brandon Routh. No mention of who will be directing, writing or starring in this reboot, but you can bet that Nolan will have an integral part in deciding who does what.

WB’s first priority with Nolan is, of course, getting him to return to the Batman franchise with a follow-up to The Dark Knight. Just yesterday it was “announced” that Batman Begins/The Dark Knight writers David Goyer and Nolan’s brother Jonah Nolan, are in the beginning stages of writing the script for Batman 3. In Ms. Finke’s Deadline report today, she claims the following: “he’s (Chris) also hatched an idea for Warner Bros’ third Batman installment.” He’s “hatched” an idea? Not quite sure what exactly that entails, but Ms. Finke is a usually reliable Hollywood source, so we should be able to nerdgasm at that very vague sentence.

Since the first Superman film franchise that ran from 1978-1987 starring Christopher Reeve, there have been many attempts by now high-profile filmmakers to make their mark on a rebooted Superman franchise. Tim Burton tried to make one with Nicolas Cage, a then-relatively unknown J.J. Abrams wrote the first script for a trilogy but wasn’t a big enough name to direct. Brett Ratner (Rush Hour trilogy) and McG (Terminator Salvation) then tried to do it with Abrams script, but both never got there. Then of course Bryan Singer got the nod in 06′ with Returns.

So now what are we to expect from Christopher Nolan’s Superman movie? The mythology and themes surrounding the Man of Steel in the comic-books is very different to that of Batman. Nolan was very successful in his psychological study of Bruce Wayne, and the grounding of the villains and the Batman universe in reality. But that’s not going to work for Superman. Superman has limitless superpowers and is invincible, minus his vulnerability to krypoinite. That fantastical, supernatural approach is something Nolan has not attempted yet (although I expect Inception to disprove that). Whatever happens, the fact that Christopher Nolan has been brought on this project in any capacity, is a damn good thing.

What Do You Think? Discuss.