Guy Ritchie could be going to war, with reports today suggesting Warner Bros has offered the British director the chance to oil up for Xerxes, the follow-up to 2006's comic book-based muscle-fest 300.

300, based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, dealt with the story of the 480 BC battle of Thermopylae, in which a heroic band of Spartans battled a much larger army of Persians. Xerxes, based on another of Miller's works, will be set 10 years earlier, according to New York magazine's Vulture blog, and will presumably feature the eponymous Persian king.

Vulture speculates that Zack Snyder, who directed 300 and developed the script for Xerxes, could be tied up with his new Superman film, leaving a vacancy that Ritchie has yet to confirm he will fill.

It has been a busy news week for Ritchie, whose Sherlock Holmes sequel has gained itself a title, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, according to comingsoon.net.

His Holmes work appears to have impressed Warner, which, according to Empire, may now see Madonna's ex-husband as its "go-to guy".

Meanwhile, the idea of having an army of buff Persians as back-up may appeal to the Hatfield-born film-maker, amid reports that his "luxurious £6m pad" in London's Fitzrovia has been occupied by squatters planning to set up a "really free school" on the premises.