Back in April we told you that Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition) had officially vacated the directors chair for the big-screen adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon‘s comic book series, Preacher.

Earlier this week, we brought you the news that director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) was one of the contenders to direct the upcoming Christopher Nolan produced Superman remake for Warner Bros. Pictures.

According to Newsarama, Aronofsky has now emerged as the main contender to direct Columbia Pictures‘ upcoming adaptation of Preacher. Should this story and the report about Aronofsky being a contender for the Superman reboot hold true, the director will likely have to choose between the two projects as Columbia Pictures is looking to start production on Preacher in 2011, and Warner Bros. is looking to shoot Superman: Man of Steel in 2011 as well.

Preacher is slated to hit theaters in 2012.

Superman: Man of Steel is slated to hit theaters in December of 2012.