EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is trying to ready its DC Comics stalwart Superman to soar again on the Big Screen, and the studio has turned to Chris Nolan to mentor development of the movie. Our insiders say that the brains behind rebooted Batman has been asked to play a "godfather" role and ensure The Man Of Steel gets off the ground after a 3 1/2-year hiatus. Nolan's leadership of the project can set it in the right direction with the critics and the fans, not to mention at the box office. Besides, Nolan is considered something of a god at Warner Bros and has a strong relationship with the studio after the success of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Though he wasn’t obligated to do so, he gave the studio first crack at his spec script Inception, and Warner Bros was able to buy it before other studios even got a sniff. While Nolan completes that Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer for a July 16th release, he's also hatched an idea for Warner Bros' third Batman installment. Now his brother and frequent collaborator Jonah Nolan, and David Goyer who co-wrote Batman Begins and penned the story for The Dark Knight, are off scripting it. (See 'FlashForward' Showrunner Exits For Features).

Let us emphasize that Superman 3.0 is in the early stages of development. And we doubt Nolan would direct. This wouldn't be a sequel to Superman Returns but a completely fresh franchise. As one of our insiders reassures: “It would definitely not be a followup to Superman Returns." Nolan coming on board follows a hiatus period for Superman after that 2006 reboot as the studio tried to figure out whether or not to make a sequel to that version starring Brandon Routh directed by Bryan Singer. As recently as this summer, Warner Bros was still contemplating how to proceed. We were told that "Bryan or Brandon are not completely out of it yet. But Warner Bros doesn't have a handle yet on it, either. [Producer] Jon Peters is trying to make something happen since he stands to benefit financially. But they [the studio] need to hear a great story that makes sense." Another insider explained to us, "We know what we don't want to do. But we don't know what we want to do. We learned a lot from the last movie, and we want to get it right this time."

Fans have long been yearning for Superman to finally get the big screen Nolan-ized treatment this classic superhero deserves. Warner Bros clearly has learned from its attempt to follow the mediocre 1978-1985 quartet of movies starring Christopher Reeve and produced by Ilya and Alexander Salkind, with 2006's underwhelming Superman Returns. That inbetween period was plagued by long delays and budget troubles and script misses. In 1997, original Batman director Tim Burton tried to make a Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage. Around 2004, J.J. Abrams wrote a film that was the first leg of a trilogy. Abrams wanted to direct, but had only directed episodes of his TV series (and wouldn't make his feature directing debut until 2006's Mission:Impossible III. McG and Brett Ratner separately were attached to that film. Ratner got closest, but Warner Bros was wary of a budget that swelled to $250 million, and which seemed risky after established star Josh Hartnett turned down the 3-picture deal that could have brought him $100 million in salary. After that, Warner Bros bosses didn't embrace Ratner's s choice of soap opera actor Matt Bomer to star. 

Other prominent filmmakers were reportedly in the loop, but Warner Bros never pulled the trigger on the picture until Bryan Singer's involvement. Singer's Superman Returns was respectably reviewed for the genre. But it turned in only $52 million opening weekend, and $391 million worldwide gross. Problem was it cost too much (the budget was reportedly $270 million), and the promotion was lousy (Joel Silver was brought in at the last minute to inject macho into the marketing campaign). Worse, it left diehard fans only "meh" about a sequel starring Routh. Singer fared better, but it seems doubtful he'll be asked for an encore now. After all, Singer is now developing the spinoff X-Men: First Class for 20th Century Fox whose bosses were furious when he took on The Man Of Steel reboot instead of helming X-Men 3. But Singer and the studio subsequently made peace and he's back in the Fox fold and on board.

The restructuring of Warner Bros' business with DC Comics became Warner Bros Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov's first priority since having his contract reupped by Time Warner last summer. Problems have plagued the DC Comics-Warner Bros relationship for more than a decade. But the biggest failure has been to leave the most valuable DC Comics characters in movie development limbo by chaotically starting and stopping development on the high profile live action pics. Most recently, Warner Bros and DC Comics are finally getting their act together as evidenced by the progress on Green Lantern. 

Superman 3.0 would test Warner Bros veteran executive Diane Nelson, the head of DC Entertainment Inc, that new company founded to fully realize and integrate the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms into Warner Bros Entertainment's content and distribution businesses. Nelson especially was charged with suping up Superman again because it's way too valuable to leave dormant like this. Besides, the clock is ticking.

Attorney Marc Toberoff, who keeps suing Warner Bros on behalf of creative rightsholders, warns that, in 2013, the Jerome Siegel heirs along with the estate of co-creator Joe Shuster will own the entire original copyright to Superman -- "and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters". He's also pointed out that, if Warner Bros does not start production on a new Superman sequel or reboot by 2011, the Siegels could sue to recover their damages on the grounds that the deal should have contained a clause in which the rights returned to the owners after a given time if no film was in development. The heirs of Siegel have already been awarded half the copyright for Superman. And in 2013 the heirs of co-creator Joe Shuster get the remaining half. After that, neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros will be able to use Superman without a financial agreement with the heirs. There are also stipulations on what parts of the origins story can be used in future Superman movies and which require re-negotiations with the creators' heirs or estates. 

At first, Warner Bros felt no pressure to rush out another Superman pic. As Warner Bros chairman Alan Horn told a court hearing about rights to Superman, he hoped to make another Superman movie but no film was in development, no script had been written, and the earliest he foresaw another Superman film released would be 2012. He told the judge: "We had hopes to keep the character alive and to once again reinvent Superman. Our hope is to develop a Superman property and to try again. What hurt us is that the reviews and so on for the Superman movie did not get the kind of critical acclaim that Batman got, and we have other issues with Superman that concern us."

So Warner Bros is now bringing in Batman's saviour. What Nolan would do with the Superman character and story is intriguing to say the least. And he has the experience necessary of prepping and pepping a played-out franchise. The 2005 Batman Begins grossed $373 million worldwide on a reported $150 million budget. And of course 2008’s The Dark Knight crossed the $1 billion worldwide gross mark on a reported $185 million budget (and Heath Ledger posthumously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). 

But Batman has always been The Dark Knight. But there's a big difference between Superman's cinematic incarnation and comic-book version. Warner Brothers and DC Comics for a long time weren’t sure which version they liked better. The cinematic version has been squeaky clean, occasionally campy, and has more-or-less unlimited power except when confronted with Kryptonite. The comic book version has some limits on his powers, can be darker, and fights aliens a lot more. Shortly after Dark Knight hit it big, fans assumed that Superman would be taken to the “dark” side as well. That's because Warner Bros mogul Jeff Robinov stressed post-Dark Knight that "we have to look at how to make these movies edgier". One of our insiders interpreted this to say: "He meant more sophisticated."

A more comic-accurate Superman seems like the way to go. No need to worry: Chris Nolan knows what he's doing.

EXCLUSIVE: The last time Paul Reiser created a sitcom that was picked up by NBC, it was the major hit Mad About You and ran from 1992 all the way to 1999 on the network. So it's understandable if NBC is feeling somewhat nostalgic for Reiser's product. Now I've learned that last night the network picked up a Warner Bros pilot that was written by and stars Paul Reiser who also will executive produce. There's no official announcement about this yet. But the deal for this single-camera filmed series is said to be "big".

It came in with promotions on the cat food aisle at Vons supermarkets, and it goes out with its tail between its legs. The Jay Leno Show finale is tonight with guests Ashton Kutcher (Valentine's Day) and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and "10 at 10" with NBC Winter Olympcs host Bob Costas via satellite from Vancouver. The fact is Jay can't get out of 10 PM primetime fast enough to satisfy the beleaguered NBC affiliates who threatened to mutiny and preempt his show. That's what started NBC's late night re-shuffle in the first place.

NBC will use the Olympics starting Friday to heavily promote Jay's March 1st return to The Tonight Show . In the meantime, the Leno Show set will get a makeover, and I've heard that a desk was picked for the host's return before the ink was even dry on his latest contract. There's also a mean-spirited rumor being emailed that NBC has packed the first week Leno is back with an audience consisting mainly of paid extras from Central Casting who will cheer and laugh extra wildly. Ouch!

BREAKING NEWS! EXCLUSIVE: I've learned that the auction for the Terminator movie, TV program, and other spin-off rights just ended after a marathon bidding session today that stretched from 3 PM this afternoon until 8 PM tonight. Both Sony Pictures and Lionsgate separately were bidding for the franchise, and then joined up after the first round was completed. "We're going to fight one hell of a fight," a Lionsgate insider told me in advance. Its plans were for "a complete re-boot, back to basics, with real emotional stories, and effects that will be secondary.

Alas, the studios didn't come away the winners -- which, I'm told, prompted a furious Sony Pictures Entertainment's president of worldwide affairs Peter Schlessel to "storm out" of the Downtown LA offices of FTI Capital Advisors holding the auction. (Sony had distributed Terminator 4: Salvation internationally.) Instead, Halcyon Holding Corp accepted the $29.5 million bid from, of all parties, the debtholder which  pushed it into bankruptcy, Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor. (This is the same Pacificor whom Halcyon accused in a lawsuit of extortion, bribery, and fraud and demanded $30M in damages.)

Tonight, Sony and Lionsgate dropped out at just under $29.5 million when it became clear that Pacificor "was willing to pay almost any amount of money for Terminator," an insider tells me. Halcyon will receive $5 million for every Terminator movie made from now on, as well as retains the rich revenue streams from the movies Terminator 3 and 4. Sources ... Read More »

Some veteran and ingénue actresses are landing next projects. Cate Blanchett is signing on to join Saoirse Ronan and Eric Bana in Hanna. The Joe Wright-directed Focus Features drama that casts Ronan as a 14-year old badass who is hellbent on finding her father, and uses the survival skills she learned from him on anybody who gets in her way... Amber Tamblyn will play the female lead opposite James Franco in 127 Hours. The Danny Boyle-directed drama is about Aron Ralston, the mountain climber who cut off his arm with a dull knife to save his life after being unable to free the limb from under a boulder. Tamblyn will play his girlfriend, with their relationship played out in flashbacks that keep him going… Mia Wasikowska follows playing the title role in the Tim Burton-directed Alice in Wonderland with the title character in Jane Eyre, the Cary Fukunaga-directed adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte novel for Focus.

Beverly Hills, CA — Nominee credits for Best Documentary Feature nominee "The Cove" have been determined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Documentary Branch Executive Committee. Credits are as follows:

"The Cove" – Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens

Academy rules for the documentary feature category state that a maximum of two persons may be designated as nominees, one of whom must be the credited director, and the other of whom must have a producer or director credit. Psihoyos is the film's director, Stevens has a producer credit.

UPDATE: Yes, the rumors are true: Andrew Rogers has joined ICM as an agent in the motion picture talent department. This follows his departure as head of Paradigm’s motion picture talent group. ICM expects most of his clients to follow, including Michael Cera, Laz Alonso, Eugene Levy, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Russell Hornsby, Regina Hall, Gavin Weisen, Zack Pearlman. But Paradigm tells me that Rogers' clients Shailene Woodley, Melissa George, Blair Underwood, Asher Book, Lucas Neff and Nicole Behaire have confirmed that they are staying.

Aleen Leslie - screenwriter, novelist, playwright, and vintage radio writer-producer – died of natural causes in her home in Beverly Hills last week, just three days short of her 102nd birthday. A member since 1938, Leslie was the oldest living Writers Guild member. She also was one of perhaps only a dozen women screenwriters in the entertainment industry at the time. After arriving in Hollywood, she quickly talked her way into Universal Studio to begin writing 2-reelers for The Three Stooges and ultimately worked at every studio. She had 19 credited movies to her name, including Father Was a Fullback, The Doctor Takes a Wife, Father is a Bachelor, Rosie the Riveter, The Stork Pays Off, and several of the Henry Aldrich series.

TV lit agents Jill Gillett has left Paradigm. But talent agent Carlos Carreras has left UTA and joined the agency in the talent department, effective immediately. He's said to have very strong ties to the burgeoning Latin talent market.

DDA public relations has upped Dana Archer to SVP and head of its Los Angeles office. She'll also join the 6-person DDA executive board. Archer in her new role promoted Christelle Dupont to senior publicist, Clifford Ng to international publicist, and Manuela Ruggeri in the newly created role of new business coordinator. The flackery is under the new ownership of CEO Lawrence Atkinson and COO John Stannard. Archer left Weber Shandwick and joined DDA PR last March as VP of Corporate Entertainment. Current DDA corporate clients include Imagenation Abu Dhabi, Reliance BIG Entertainment, Dubai International Film Festival, Mpower Pictures, Lleju Productions, Samuel Hadida’s Davis Films. and BrightWide, among others.

Hollywood studios finished 2009 with their wallets shut tight for spec scripts and new development. But maybe they'll open for Steven Soderbergh's latest: Contagion, an action-thriller that takes place in a worst case scenario of a deadly virus. He’s got Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, and Jude Law ready to star in it this fall, with Participant Media aboard as co-financier. Greg Jacobs will produce with Double Feature Films' Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher.

Of course, this is familiar movie territory, from The Andromeda Strain to Outbreak, which beat out Ridley Scott's The Hot Zone on the same topic. But both were hot properties, and given the subject matter, and Soderbergh's involvement, and that cast, Contagion ought to spark a bidding battle. Several studio execs have read it, and the project will be be shopped shortly by the producers and Soderbergh’s Anonymous Content rep Michael Sugar. The script is supposed to be Traffic meets Bourne and was written by Scott Z. Burns, best known for co-writing The Bourne Ultimatum, and who most recently collaborated with Soderbergh on The Informant!, as did Participant, Damon and Jacobs.

After Che, the maverick writer-director has moved in a more commercial direction. And after Moneyball fell apart for him, he's proactively going the indie route.  He began production last week on Knockout, the Relativity Media-financed espionage thriller he built around mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano, surrounding the newcomer with Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, and Michael Fassbender.

GET HIM TO THE GREEK, starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand, will be released on June 4, 2010. CHARLIE ST. CLOUD, starring Zac Efron, will be released on October 15th.

No doubt the network is anxious to get its disastrous primetime season over and done with. Anyway, here are NBC's season finale dates:

“Trauma” (Monday, May 10
“Mercy” (Wednesday, May 12
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” May 19
“Community” May 20
“Parks and Recreation” May 20
“The Office” May 20
“30 Rock” May 20
“The Celebrity Apprentice” May 23
“Chuck” (two hours) May 24
“Law & Order” May 24
“The Biggest Loser” (two hours) May 25

UPDATES Few Films Advertising For Super Bowl XLIV

According to a recent MovieTickets.com poll of over 550 people who said they watched the entire game, Alice in Wonderland was the most memorable movie trailer to air during Super Bowl XLIV. About 51% remembered seeing the trailer, while 30% said the trailer was the most effective in encouraging them to see the film when it releases March 5th in theaters — more than any other trailer aired Sunday. Robin Hood was 2nd in terms of effectiveness with 26%.

Which movie ads do you remember seeing during the Super Bowl?
1. Alice in Wonderland (81%)
2. Robin Hood (67%)
3. Shutter Island (63%)
4. The Wolfman (63%)
5. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (56%)
6. The Last Airbender (28%)
7. The Back-up Plan (23%)

11:45 AM UPDATE: CBS just announced its Super Bowl XLIV coverage was the most-watched program in TV history. (Assuming this is U.S. history, since the World Cup for soccer is seen by more people around the world.) An average of 106.5 million viewers watched New Orleans beat the Indianapolis Colts. The game even topped the 1983 M*A*S*H* finale seen my 106 million. The network's fast national household rating/share was 45.0/68, the highest in 14 years. Last night's Super Bowl rating/share peaked at a 48.5/70 from 9:00PM-9:30PM ET with an average of 114.1 million viewers. Which just goes to show that, even though everyone says there's no such thing as double-digit ratings in entertainment TV anymore, some event programming transcend normal viewing habits and bring eyeballs nationwide back to the networks.

Because of the game, the CBS premiere of its heavily hyped new reality show Undercover Boss benefited greatly, averaging a 19.0/32 with an average of 38.61 million viewers -- 16.6 million in adults 25-54, 16.2 million in adults 18-49, and 15.1 million in adults 18-34. CBS said it was the largest audience ever for a new series following the Super Bowl since the advent of people meters in 1987. Also, the largest audience ever to watch the premiere episode of a reality series. And the most watched new series premiere overall on television since "The Dolly Show" on September 27, 1987 (seen by 39.47 million). The 3rd largest post-Super Bowl audience behind the "Friends Special" on January 28, 1996 and CBS's Survivor: ... Read More »

Who's kidding whom? We know that almost all the marquee categories are virtually decided. Which leaves only Best Picture and Best Director (and maybe Best Actress) nominations with any suspense at all. There's tension galore, for once. The studios, and their majors and minors and distributors and marketers, all had an extra two weeks to campaign until the Oscar broadcast March 7th. But is anyone spending like the good old days (i.e. the Weinsteins' heyday)? I've called around and seasoned Oscar observers say no, resoundingly.

Gone are the days when ego and bragging rights prompted studios and studio-backed indies to cough up tens of millions of dollars just to sway Academy members. It's estimated that spending campaigns this year will range from a pittance of $500,000 to a middling $5 million. "And most of us are going to play in the low end," one top studio exec told me. Contrast that to the routine $15-plus million spent in the late 1990s-early 2000s.

This year, there's a sober reality among contenders like Alcon Entertainment, whose nominee The Blind Side was nearing a $240 million domestic gross when the noms arrived. Andrew Kosove, Alcon partner and one of the film's three producers, expects to spend 6-figures for a race he doesn't feel he will win.

“I believe we deserved to be nominated, but in my personal opinion, this is between Avatar and The Hurt Locker,” Kosove told me. “Just being nominated, and having Sandra Bullock emerge as a possible winner for ... Read More »

NEW YORK CITY – Alan Zweibel will receive the Writers Guild of America East’s (WGAE) Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing. The award is given “in honor of a lifetime body of work as a writer in motion pictures or television.” Zweibel will receive his award at the 62nd annual Writers Guild Awards ceremony held on February 20 at New York City’s Hudson Theatre. One of Saturday Night Live’s original writers, Alan Zweibel has won multiple Emmy, Writers Guild, and TV Critics awards for his work in television, which also includes It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (co-creator and executive producer), Monk, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. In film, he co-wrote the screenplays for Dragnet, North, and The Story of Us.

• More WGAW Writing Award Winners
• WGAW Honors Barry Levinson & Larry David
• WGAE Honors Edward Albee

UPDATES Worst Network Pilot Season For Women?

My recent post asking whether this was the worst network pilot season for women writers and showrunners provoked a lot of controversy. I asked Neely Swanson to expand for Deadline/Hollywood on her recent essay about it. She is the former SVP of Development for David E. Kelley Productions, and presently is an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in the writing division. She teaches “The Entertainment Industry Seminar.”  Neely also writes a blog about big and small sceen writers at www.nomeanerplace.com. 

I received several emails this past week pointing out the scarcity of women writers on the recent pilot pickups.  At a cursory glance it is easy to jump on the bandwagon decrying the lack of diversity among the “creator” ranks, not to mention showrunners and writing staffs, but this was a subject worth pursuing in a bit more depth. Nikki Finke sent a missile to the broadside of various network heads about what was being called “the worst year in a decade for female writers and showrunners.”   

Based on announced pilot pickups and using Studio System and the Trades, I made a list of all the new pilots that had been ordered to production as of February 1 for the four major broadcast networks, as well as the credited writers, the production studio and the intended network. Of the 66 pilots I documented, 13 pilots had at least

... Read More »