The project won’t tackle the arc laid out in the first six films, but rather tackle some Jedi-heavy stuff in the style of samurai. Hmm. Sounds promising. While no one will confuse Zack Snyder for P.T. Anderson, he’s a director that can leave his fingerprints on a future installment right out of the gate.

Equally of interest to fanboys is what this report would mean to Snyder’s potential direction of DC Comics answer to The Avengers, Justice League. Perhaps he can still get the jump on both films, but probably not without delaying one of them. A real Sophie’s Choice for fanboys. Tragic.

Today, for the first time, we’ve received a hint that Cavill may lead both films. The New York Post tried to get the info from Zack Snyder. When asked if there were plans to work his Superman into Warner Bros’s larger DC universe, Snyder answered:

“Um, how can I answer that? I can’t really say anything to that, because that’s a big spoiler. I will say, yeah, they trust me to keep them on course.”

We could take that to mean that Warners are pulling a Marvel and filming easter eggs that tie individual films into a larger superhero team-up film. I guess we’ll know for sure when Man of Steel opens in 2013, but we urge Warners not to have too many dudes playing Superman hanging around. It’s starting to confuse the baby. (NY Post)

Details are few right now, but it’s a given that the realism established in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series will be thrown out the window as the Caped Crusader and Superman begrudgingly team up and get all bitchy with one another while Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Green Lantern watch awkwardly. Seriously, you two. There’s a world to be saved. (The LA Times)

While directors such as Jon Favreau and Peter Berg have recently made big names from themselves turning from gritty fare to overblown blockbusters, it doesn’t seem fitting that Ben Affleck would chase down that path when he has had such a promising career with crime thrillers and the upcoming political thriller Argo.

But maybe he likes money much more than I give him credit for. Details at 11.

You might remember that Justice League almost went before cameras a few years back but was killed due to the WGA writer’s strike. We were all relieved back then but has your mood toward this project change in light of The Avengers‘ success? I still feel like bringing the teaming of a vigilante, an alien, another alien, a guy who got powers from an alien, an Amazonian princess, and a chemically-mutated really fast guy to the screen is going to be a clunky endeavor. Have some respect for the fans. We’re still hurting from Green Lantern.

“That’s a whole other conversation. That’s a whole business model and nothing to do with me at all. No one has ever approached me about doing a ‘Justice League’ movie. We’ll see if they do it in the long run.”

This is consistent with Zack Snyder‘s saying his Superman is also a separate entity from the upcoming Justice League movie. I think this is a bad decision though – isn’t the fun of any Justice League project seeing your favorite super-heroes together in one team? By populating a 2013 Justice League movie with no-name faceless actors, you’re neutralizing one of the biggest appeals of the movie. But what do I know? I thought League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was an OK movie.

“Like what Chris Nolan is doing and what I’m doing with Superman, what they’ll do with Justice League will be its own thing with its own Batman and own Superman. We’ll be over here with our movie and they’ll kinda get to do it twice which is kinda cool.”

Hey Warner Brothers, why not just give Superman and Batman a sitcom together if you don’t care how many of them are out there? I know that Superman and Batman have been corporate-owned characters for decades and their main purpose on this Earth is to make money, but this still strikes me as cheap. The only way this could be good news is if the two versions of Superman might one day fight each other. (via Hey U Guys)

“We have the third Batman, but then we’ll have to reinvent Batman. Chris Nolan and [producing partner and wife] Emma Thomas will be producing it, so it will be a conversation with them about what the next phase is.”

That was WB chief Jeff Robinov, in case you want a name to put to the horrible idea. Apparently, the idea is for the “new” Batman to take part in WB’s Justice League movie (along with Henry Cavill as Superman, possibly Ryan Reynolds at Green Lantern, and whoever ends up playing Wonder Woman and The Flash), since it’s a sure bet that Christian Bale won’t be involved in that nonsense.

It’s also surprising that Nolan is evidently going to be involved with this reboot, despite the fact that it threatens to turn ‘Batman’ movies into total non-events (how excited are you for the next James Bond movie?). My guess is that he’ll be able to turn whatever weird ideas he has in his head into movies he wants as a result of this partnership. (via The Playlist)

Why is this project being talked about? In a recent interview, the new Warner Bros studio president Jeff Rabinov dropped a news-bomb onto Fandomland:

He’s then aiming to release new Batman and Superman films in 2012 and Justice League, a teaming of DC‘s top heroes, in 2013.

That would certainly be big news, if we didn’t have the assistance of Skeptical Man to prevent us from hyperventilating with superhero newscitement. I mean, 2013? For a project the size of a Justice League movie? That’d be like having to deliver a pizza from Brooklyn to Albany in 30 minutes or less – without The Flash‘s assistance. Which is almost always the case.

So I’m guessing that Warner Bros wishes they could produce a rival to The Avengers that quickly, and good for them. But if wishes were Hellhounds… (LA Times)