Could A 'Man of Steel' Sequel Arrive In 2014?

In only one full weekend, Man of Steel is already on the verge of surpassing $200M worldwide, enough to have Warner Bros. already thinking about what comes next. In fact, they were so confident Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan had a hit on their hands that the sequel was confirmed a week ago, with plans to get moving on it as fast as possible. As for what exactly "fast" entails, a report from the Wall Street Journal suggests we could see the next film in a year...

"Warner is already in development on a sequel to "Man of Steel" and is expected to fast track that for release as soon as 2014, said knowledgeable people close to the studio."

Considering Snyder, Nolan, and screenwriter David Goyer are already in place, it's not as if a lot of time will have to be spent looking for their replacements. So it's conceivable that it could be ready by Christmas of 2014, if they were to get pre-production started fairly soon. It would mean a pretty brutal post-production process, and who knows how a time crunch like this would do to the special effects and the addition of 3D. But there's also the question of whether Henry Cavill can fit it into his schedule, as Warner Bros. has him lined up for Guy Ritchie's The Man from UNCLE.

This would also have a major impact on plans for a Justice League film, which was originally set for summer 2015, although 2016 or later was beginning to look more realistic. Pushing up plans for more Man of Steel may have put the initial date back on track....

In addition, it has long been developing a "Justice League" team-up movie featuring characters such as the Flash and Wonder Woman that could come out as soon as 2015."

It's possible that WSJ and their "knowledgeable people" are rehashing old data, or Warner Bros. sees the chance to pull even with Marvel and doesn't want to let the opportunity go. Considering the amount of time and effort spent to make Superman relevant again, this would be a potentially expensive gamble. It will probably be at Comic-Con where we learn what's really going on.