At long last some official word has come out on the state of Batman 3, and as a bonus, also on a new Superman movie.

Nikki Finke is reporting that Warner Brothers has asked Christopher Nolan, the director of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, to step into a “godfather” role in regards to what is being dubbed Superman 3.0 (not an official name).  While it is unlikely that Mr. Nolan will direct, he will be taking on a supervisor role with the production to help possible steer it in a direction that will be more palatable to fans than 2006’s Superman Returns was.  (For the record, I enjoyed Superman Returns)  The new film is expected to be a complete reboot of the franchise, which means, yes, we will once again go though his ship crash landing in Kansas.

Warner Brothers is in a bit of a bind as they must start production on a new Superman film by 2011 to retain the rights to the character.  If the company should let them lapse, the heirs of Superman creators Siegel and Shuster can sue for damages for lost income.  And in 2013, all rights to Superman’s origin revert to the estates of the two creators, so both DC Comics and Warner Brothers will be in a position where they must license every aspect of Superman from the families of the original creators.

The other exciting bit of news is that Mr. Nolan’s brother, Jonah Nolan, and David Goyer who co-wrote Batman Begins and penned the story for The Dark Knight have begun scripting the third installment of the current Batman series of films. After the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger, rumors have swirled that Nolan was not interested in doing a third film as apparently his story hinged on the involvement of the Joker. After Ledger’s death, Nolan didn’t even want to think about recasting the part, which Ledger won an Oscar for, but apparently the story has been altered enough to not require the Joker.

Both films are far enough out from production that no possible story lines have yet been mentioned.  Official announcements of both productions are expected within the coming weeks.