Inception currently stands at a mighty $753 million worldwide gross, and just enjoyed its tenth weekend of residence in the top 10 of the US box office. Even more impressive is that Inception remains the highest grossing original film of the year, and one of only two original films in the top 10 (Despicable me the other) and one of only four not enjoying a 3D premium on ticket prices. The film is concluding its run though, and Nolan is edging closer to jumping back into the world of franchises and pre-existing characters, as he set the stage to direct his follow up to The Dark Knight, as well as guide Superman to new cinematic life.

The most significant news out right now is that Nolan has narrowed his list of potential Superman directors down to five key names- Tony Scott, Matt Reeves, Jonathan Liebesman, Duncan Jones, and Zack Snyder. All of these gentleman are taking meetings with the Don of DC and figuring out schedules over the next month. DC is scheduled to make a sweeping announcement about its approach to the DC stable in 4 weeks, and it will  be a much beefier announcement if they’ve settled on a director for the Man of Steel (which needs to be made by 2012 before portions of the character rights lapse back to Jerry Siegel’s estate).

This list represents a fairly wide range of approaches with varying levels of geek credibility. Zach Snyder is an established entity at this point, as is Scott, and each comes with their own baggage. Liebesman is still known only for his low-rent horror flicks, but is poised to break out in a big way when Battle: LA is released. WB seems happy with Battle, having already handed Liebesman Clash of the Titans 2, which may or may not complicate scheduling for the Superman gig. Duncan Jones and Matt Reeves are both in good standing with most of the geek community, having made Moon and Cloverfield respectively. Reeve’s moody follow up, Let Me In is currently generating extremely positive reviews (though most of them are baffled about the reason for it existing), while Jones is still working on his sophomore effort, Source Code.

While he settles on a director for Superman, Nolan is also settling on a draft of Batman 3. Speaking at a press conference in Rome he mentioned that his brother has turned in a draft and now the director is putting pen to paper on it himself. The date has been set for the film, July 20th, 2012, so expect genuine movement on the project soon.

It’s good for WB/DC that they finally found a director capable of making them a few billions dollars while having an interest in comic heroes. When we hear more from them about getting their superhero shit together, we’ll bring it straight to you.

Source | Deadline