There has been rumors of Warner Bros trying to get Superman back on the big screen for quite some time now. Deadline is reporting that they have looked to none other than Christopher Nolan, who successfully revived the Batman franchise with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. He has a “godfather” role in the development process, making sure all the right decisions are made to bring back Superman. Not only that, he has “hatched an idea” the next Batman film and, as we reported yesterday, his brother Jonah Nolan and David Goyer are currently in the writing process. Read the full story

From the people behind The Sequels That Bombed comes a new graphic highlighting the superhero genre through the years. I originally found it on Firstshowing.net via Koldcast TV and you can view a smaller version below, but you will definitely want to click it to check out the full thing. Read the full story

Drew McWeeny over at HitFix just posted something that’s news to me: Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns) was set to direct a full-length sequel of sorts to the original 1970’s Battlestar Galactica for the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy). If successful, it would have acted as a pilot for a possible television series.

But after September 11, with shooting just a few months away, Sci-Fi got cold feet due to a major sequence in the film. Of course, Battlestar Galactica would be successfully rebooted just two years later by Ron Moore, a reboot that just ended its run earlier this year.

This is news again because Mr. McWeeny is also reporting that Universal has approached Singer about developing a new big screen adaptation of Galactica.

I recommend heading over to HitFix to check out the whole story. McWeeny doesn’t mention any specific sources of this information, but he’s connected enough that I don’t have any reason to doubt that he’s right.

If nothing else, hopefully this puts to rest any lingering fanboy hopes of another Singer Superman film. It’s dead, folks.

Are you a Battlestar Galactica fan? Would you be interested in a new feature film in the franchise?

The Spanish language site Omelete caught up with Superman Returns star Brandon Routh and asked him about the current status of the Superman franchise. Routh confirmed that his contract for Superman had expired and he wasn’t aware when (if at all) the new film was going to see production, “I’m sure that Warner Bros. is moving there, but everything is still uncertain. Really, I do not know anything.” However, he did say “But if they call me again, [I'd go] back to the character without thinking twice!”

I’m glad to hear this. Brandon Routh is a great actor and I know he will have a long career but I don’t think he was right for the part of Superman. I wasn’t a fan of Superman Returns, in fact I almost fell asleep during it. I’m not saying that Routh is solely to blame for that but he was a contributing factor. Not to mention that Warner Bros. is intending to do a sequel that is in the vein of The Dark Knight so they need an actor who can really take the character to a dark place because we know that Bryan Singer is capable of just that (X2: X-Men United).

Who do you think should play Superman?

Bryan Singer recently spoke to Total Film to promote the UK DVD and Blu-Ray release of Valkyrie. Singer answered a few questions about coming back to X-Men and Superman.

On Superman Singer, as usual, acted coy:

“I don’t know, I don’t know. There are still issues. I just don’t know. I don’t necessarily…I don’t know. It’s one of those things where…It’s so weird talking about stuff unless I’m about to ramp up and shoot it.“

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Famed comic book writer Mark Millar (Wanted) has been claiming for a while now that he was interested in writing an 8 hour Superman trilogy. He also claimed that he had a big hollywood director interested in doing it. Well now apparently his dream project is dead. He admitted so on his website by stating:

“Warner’s talked to us and a few other writer/ director teams, but things seem to be in stasis right now. As far as I understand, nothing is happening with Superman at the moment and so the director and I are just working on another project. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, no biggie. Kick-Ass taught me that creating your own stuff can be at least as much fun and you don’t have to answer to anyone. It’s the future, baby.”

Warner Brothers seems to be very unsure, and they should be, about what they should do with Superman. Should they reboot it? Or let Bryan Singer (Valkyrie) the man who some claim screwed up Superman with Superman Returns do it? I personally  want Bryan Singer to return. Yes, I do believe Superman Returns is a heavily flawed movie, but its still a good one in my eyes. I also think Singer has proven himself to able to make a better sequel, just go back and watch X-Men 2. Though I can’t lie, Mark Millar’s planned Superman trilogy did sound pretty great.

Would you want Bryan Singer to return? Or would you rather see a re-boot?

- Jack Giroux

Shock has just learned that Taye Diggs (Chicago) will be playing the main villain in Dead of Night, directed by Kevin Munroe (TMNT). He will be playing the leader of a group of vampires. Dead of Night is a live action adaptation of Dylan Dog. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) is attached to star as Dylan Dog, and Sam Huntington (Fanboys) is also set to be playing Groucho, Dylan Dog’s sidekick. The film follows the adventures of supernatural private eye, Dylan Dog, who seeks out the monsters of the Louisiana bayou in his signature red shirt, black jacket, and blue jeans.

The film is set to be released sometime in 2009, but it is unlikely if it will make it out this year.

What do you think of Diggs as a vampire?

Variety reports Bryan Singer (Valkyrie, Superman Returns) has been attached to potentially direct an adaptation of the Radical Publishing comicbook series Freedom Formula: Ghost of the Wasteland. Here is a frame from the comic:

(click for hi-res)

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Entertainment Weekly is now reporting that Bryan Singer (Valkyrie) is interested in directing Prisoners.  Singer told EW: “I don’t know yet. But I’m definitely intrigued. It’s a great script. And I’d love to work with Mark.” Mark Wahlberg (The Happening) is set to star as a father who’s daughter gets kidnapped and he decides to take the law into his own hands.

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By Dan Mecca

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been watching these clips Warner Bros. have been putting out, and the whole thing’s just not registering with me. Having read the graphic novel (very recently), I am still reeling from the effects caused by what Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons offer the reader throughout the entire narrative, up to and most definitely including the brilliant finale. By book’s end, there is so much to consider and think about; so much to discuss with your friends.

And why? Because the picture the novel paints, literally (and psychologically), is so vivid and real that it forces the reader to take Watchmen seriously.

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