Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In a seven-figure preemptive bid, Warner Bros has acquired film rights to a science fiction trilogy that David Goyer is writing with Michael Cassutt. Deal calls for Goyer to adapt  Heaven’s Shadow, the first of the three books, He will produce through his Phantom Four banner. Deal closed on Friday.

The trilogy begins when an object is discovered heading for earth. Initial panic gives way to a competition between governments to be first to intercept what they believe is a breakaway meteor. What the astronauts discover leads to an encounter with alien forces that are a threat to humanity. It is the first book that Goyer has written and last spring, he set it at the Penguin imprint Ace Books to be published in July, 2011. Heaven’s War and Heaven’s Fall will be released in subsequent summers. The studio bought the book series after Goyer pitched it, as Goyer and his co-author are still working on the prose.

Goyer confirmed to Deadline that he’d made the rights deal with Warner Bros.

“It’s a perfect project for Warner Bros and I’ve obviously enjoyed a long and fruitful working relationship with the studio,” said Goyer.

For Warner Bros, Goyer’s has recently racked up either script or story credit on Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, the untitled next installment of the Batseries, and Superman: Man of Steel, a reinvention of the venerable DC Comics hero that’s being godfathered by Chris Nolan. CAA reps Goyer.