Warner Bros. has picked up the film rights to a planned trilogy of sci-fi novels written by David Goyer (Batman Begins, the upcoming Superman: The Man of Steel) and Michael Cassutt.  Goyer will also adapt the first book in the trilogy, Heaven’s Shadow.  The book, which will hit shelves in July 2011, “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.”  Oh, aliens.  Why do you find us so threaten-able?

According to Deadline, the following books in the series Heaven’s War and Heaven’s Fall, will be released in subsequent summers.  Obviously, since the prose isn’t finished, Warner Bros. bought the trilogy on a pitch from Goyer.  The studio clearly likes his stuff since they’re already trusting him to help reboot the Superman franchise, which is being “godfathered” by Christopher Nolan.

Contrary to yesterday’s online rumor, trusted sources have told us that Chris Columbus has NOT been offered the chance to helm the next Superman movie.  Yesterday’s rumor was just one of those cases of a titillating story catching fire and igniting intense speculation.  And it wasn’t the craziest rumor ever.  Columbus is known for putting together big franchise pictures (the first two Harry Potter movies; Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief).  But Columbus hasn’t been offered the opportunity to put together Superman’s next adventure on the big screen.

The new Superman movie, tentatively titled The Man of Steel, is being written by David Goyer (Batman Begins) with Christopher Nolan producing.  Hit the jump to learn more about where the film movie currently stands.

Day two of the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival in Hollywood put director Christopher Nolan on display. The director’s 2002 film Insomnia and 2008 masterpiece The Dark Knight both screened and the man himself showed up for an extended Q&A between movies.

The one downside to the evening was that the words “Batman 3” were not uttered once. It was almost as if the host, LA Times writer Geoff Boucher, wasn’t allowed to say them. Other than that, though, Nolan proved he is a highly intelligent and articulate filmmaker who has really grown from his second film to his latest. We learned some news about Inception (it’s about one week from being totally done), Nolan’s thoughts on 3D (he prefers post conversion) and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Click here to read about Friday night at the festival with Leonard Nimoy, check back Sunday for the final day with Ridley Scott an hit the jump for a full rundown of the evening’s session, including the way Nolan almost got tricked into talking about Batman 3.

This item will probably end up being filed under “crazy Batman 3 casting rumors” when all is said and done, but it’s reasonable and interesting enough to report.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt reportedly joked with director Christopher Nolan on the set of Inception that he’d love to read for the next Batman film.  The more they joked, the more they actually came to like the idea.  And now Hollywood Life reports that Levitt is “on the shortlist” to play The Riddler.

This makes a lot more sense than the rumor that pegged Eddie Murphy as The Riddler.  But David Goyer is still working on the script, and there are two summers between us and the announced July 20, 2012 release date, so we’re likely months away from any official casting notices.  Though I am rather fond of the idea… At the very least, you can enjoy the pair’s work in Inception when it hits theaters on July 16th.

In the new issue of Empire Magazine [via Nolan Fans], Christopher Nolan, who is “godfather-ing” the next Superman movie, said that David Goyer had figured out a way to address the character of Superman in a modern context.  Said Nolan:

It was the first time I’ve been able to conceive of how you’d address Superman in a modern context I thought it was a really exciting idea. What you have to remember about Batman and Superman is that what makes them the best superhero characters there are, the most beloved after all this time, is the essence of who they were when they were created, when they were first developed. You can’t move too far away from that.

Setting aside the point that Batman and Superman are the “best” superhero characters, I believe Nolan is right that you can’t forget the context of when a superhero was created.  In the case of Superman, it’s an immigrant story (the parents of creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were immigrants).  For my thoughts on what Goyer could do with The Man of Steel, hit the jump.

Speaking to investors, Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Barry Meyer revealed that they were “nearing” a greenlight on The Flash.  According to Heat Vision, Meyer also spoke about their other superhero properties.  He repeated that Christopher Nolan’s Batman 3 was set for July 20, 2012 and that the new Superman movie—produced by Nolan and written by David Goyer (Batman Begins) and rumored to be titled The Man of Steel—was scheduled for the 2012 holiday season.

Meyer also revealed that the studio was had films for Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Mad Magazine characters in development.  Hit the jump for what we know about all of these projects, including Steve’s interview with rumored Flash director Greg Berlanti (Life as We Know It).

It looks like The Flash is finally picking up speed as IESB reports that Warner Bros. is interested in getting Greg Berlanti to direct the superhero flick.  For those who don’t know, Berlanti co-wrote another upcoming WB superhero flick, Green Lantern, and was considered to direct before the studio settled on Martin Campbell.  Keep in mind, this is not a confirmation, but IESB says he’s the leading contender to take the job.  Since I imagine most folks (myself included) haven’t seen Berlanti’s 2000 film, The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy, his second movie, Life as We Know It, is slated to hit theaters at the end of this year.

For more about how DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson has revived the cinematic opportunities for the company’s cherished superheroes, hit the jump.

News just broke that David Goyer, heavily involved in Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s other DC franchise (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight), will be writing the next Superman film, according to Latino Review. Goyer has extensive experience with comic book films adapted to the big screen, and even wrote and directed Blade: Trinity. No, he likely won’t be directing this, but it does appear that this is one step closer to getting a good Superman flick.

For various plot details and who won’t be involved with the film, hit the jump.

Yesterday, we reported on David Goyer leaving his showrunning duties for ABC’s FlashForward focus on his film career, which included a mention of the inevitable Batman 3. At the time, it seemed like a continuation of the logical but as-of-yet unconfirmed rumor that director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter Goyer would return to Gotham.  A new report Deadline, advances said heresay and ups the ante by about a million chips.  Not only has Nolan cracked the story of the sequel to The Dark Knight and committed to participate, but Warner Bros. has recruited the modern auteur to “godfather” the newest film in the Superman franchise.  It’s unlikely that Nolan will direct the Superman sequel, but any portion of the reins handed to the man indicates a serious effort on the studio’s part to make the best Superman while they still have the time.

For speculation on the future of two of the biggest superhero franchises on the planet, hit the break.

David Goyer is leaving ABC’s sci-fi/adventure TV series FlashForward and Deadline believes it’s because he’s going to go work on the script for the third Batman film.  Says Nikki Fink(e): “Of course, Goyer’s feature career is really heating up, since he co-wrote Batman Begins, and penned the story for The Dark Knight, and is now writing the third Batman installment with Chris Nolan’s brother Jonah [aka Jonathan].”  I’m slightly skeptical that Goyer is just now starting work on Batman 3 since the film is so highly-anticipated that any spark of information will ignite the online world (remember those delightful villain casting rumors?).

Of course, the third movie in franchises rarely excel past the first two installments.  I imagine Batman 3 will be a slight disappointment, but not a franchise killer.  However, Warner Bros. will reboot the series anyway with an intent to skew younger.  Wait, sorry.  That was another successful superhero franchise.

Then again, a re-launch for Batman after the third film wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.  Hit the jump for my argument why plus information on Goyer’s other projects.

A few weeks ago I posted something called “7 Days with Producer Dan Lin“.  The reason for the title was we discussed so many different projects, it took seven days to post them all.  Thankfully, the interview went over extremely well, and now it’s time for a new “7 Days” column and this one is with producer Mike De Luca.

As you can tell by looking over his resume, De Luca has produced over 50 films and he’s got tons of projects in development. While I’ll be posting updates on Metal Gear Solid, Butter, Fright Night, Dracula Year Zero and tons of other things in the coming days, tonight is all about Ghost Rider 2.

For those who don’t know, the sequel to Ghost Rider is moving ahead full steam with a script by David Goyer.  According to De Luca, “We have an outline that David wrote that kind of adapts his 2001 script into today’s times with incorporating kind of an original idea of Nic’s.”

We talked about whether or not Mark Steven Johnson will be back directing and if Eva Mendes would return as Roxanne Simpson.  Oh, and he told me the tentative title is Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.  So much more after the jump:

In 2000, “X-Men” was the first superhero movie to step into the American mainstream after the Superman and Batman franchises had committed suicide through atrocious movies.  Whatever you may think of the three “X-Men” movies and “Wolverine”, there’s no denying that it’s box office juggernaut (and a more convincing and powerful one than Vinnie Jones).  With that in mind, producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who has been with the series from the very beginning, recently provided updates on the continuing mutation of “Wolverine 2″, “X-Men: First Class”, “Deadpool”, and Magneto”.  Hit the jump to learn about projects that aren’t a fourth “X-Men” movie.

If you’ve been watching the great ABC show “FlashForward” on Thursday nights, you’re going to love the interview I did with David Goyer (“Blade”, “The Dark Knight”), and Brannon Braga (“Star Trek: Voyager”, “Star Trek: Enterprise”, “24″) a few days ago. That’s because these two great writers are responsible for getting the show on the air, have mapped out where the show is headed, and what mysteries are going to be revealed along the way. And if the ratings are any indication, the show is going to be around for awhile.

Now for the best part: While some interviews are brief, my conversation with Goyer and Braga went for about 30 minutes. What that means is we talked about everything – from how “FlashForward” got off the ground to how the show gets made each week. Of course, we also talked about what was up with the Oceanic Airlines billboard in the pilot and how do they deal with the comparisons to “Lost”. And for fans of “24″, Braga talks about what’s coming up in the new season and Goyer talks about “Ghost Rider 2″ and “Magneto”. I’ve done A LOT of interviews for Collider and I think this is one of the best so I really recommend checking it out. And to make it easy, I’ve listed what we talked about above each part. Hit the jump to see and make sure to tune into “FlashForward” on Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.

Earlier today I sat down with David Goyer and Brannon Braga and conducted an extensive interview about their fantastic new show “FlashForward”. If you’ve been watching the show on ABC Thursday nights, I promise you’ll love this interview as they explain how the idea came together, what’s coming up, David explains where the Oceanic Airlines billboard came from and is the show related to “Lost”, and so much more. Also, while my interviews are usually around ten to fifteen minutes, this one went for almost thirty, so we were able to really talk and not just scratch the surface.  Look for the entire conversation Sunday night.

Anyway, since David is very involved in some big name comic book movies, I wanted to give you a taste of the interview by posting what he said about “Ghost Rider 2″ and “Magneto”. Hit the jump to learn more:

Last night, a kind of amazing thing happened. For the first time in five years, reality TV sensation “Survivor” was not the highest rated show among 18- to 49-year-olds at 8pm. That honor went to the series premiere of David Goyer’s new sci-fi/drama, “FlashForward.” The show rocked the hour with 12.4 million viewers overall, and specifically high ratings in key target demographics. A brief review of the episode and why it’s earned its spot after the jump.