The producers of the 300 spinoff known as Xerxes have retitled their film 300: Battle of Artemisia , and they have also narrowed their focus of potential directors to two: Noam Murro and Jaume Collet-Serra . The film, a spinoff to 300, is one that the film's original director Zack Snyder was going to direct. That was until Warner Bros and producer Chris Nolan offered him Man of Steel , and Snyder and wife and producing partner Debra Snyder put Xerxes aside and moved on to rebooting the Superman franchise because Warner Bros needed it. The Snyders have been all over this director selection process. Snyder had written a script with his 300 cohort Kurt Johnstad. Like 300, it is based on a Frank Miller graphic novel that will be shot with the kind of stylized period green-screen action visuals that became the signature of 300 and helped the film gross $456 million worldwide. Xerxes was the Persian leader seen in 300. Miller's graphic novel told the story of how Xerxes b