300 Prequel: Rise of a New Title

300: Rise of an Empire.

Warner Brothers has decided that 300: Battle of Artemisium is a touch too confusing for theatergoers, settling on the much more generic title above. The movie itself is based in part on Frank Miller’s own 300 graphic novel prequel entitled Xerxes and commenced production last July. The prequel covers “God King” Xerxes’ (a returning Rodrigo Santoro) rise to power set against the navel battle of Artemisium (the second Persian invasion of Greece) in 480 BC.

It goes without saying that Zack Snyder isn’t returning, replaced by dark horse short-film director Noam Murro. Murro was at one time up for The Ring Two before being replaced by Hideo Nakata during preproduction. 300: Rise of an Empire is currently slated for an August 2^nd, 2013 release; so it’s only a matter of time before we see a trailer for this, another ode to six-pack abs.

Source: Deadline