According to Deadline, the prequel to 2007’s surprise hit 300 is moving along, despite the fact that director Zack Snyder will be too busy relaunching Superman to helm it himself. Now titled 300: Battle Of Artemisia, will focus on how Xerxes became the unsettling god-like being that he was in the first movie.
Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have been looking at Noam Murro and Jaume Collet-Serra as potential replacements for Snyder. Murro is best known for 2008’s Smart People, but it was his work directing a line of hyper-visualized commercials for the video game franchise Halo that caught the studio's attention. Collet-Serra, meanwhile, has enjoyed a bit more mainstream success, directing the well-received creepy kid flick Orphan (2009) and this year's Liam-Neeson-kicks-more-ass pic Unknown. Interestingly enough, Murro has also been linked to Die Hard 5, which begins production soon.
Frank Miller, who wrote the original 300 comic, is working on a graphic novel based on the 300 prequel, titled Xerxes, which was the film's original title.
[Via Deadline]
