Warner Brothers likely to get even more safe post-WATCHMEN.

[NOTE: The post below is to be read strictly for entertainment value. Irresponsible behavior is not encouraged.]

It's a reasonably safe guess that you, the reader of this blog entry, could conceivably make a prank call to Warner Brothers in the guise of a talent agent or producer. And you could even talk yourself into a chance at securing a meeting to pitch either a superhero project (preferably DC) or an adaptation of a self-help book or even a remake of an in-house property. Maybe you could say something like: "I know exactly how to make WONDER WOMAN a durable four-quadrant franchise."

With the box office underperformance of WATCHMEN (an uneven--sometimes effective, sometimes ubersilly--film which was probably the best attempt at ultra-adult comic book fare since the original, and definitely superior, ROBOCOP in 1987), it's safe to say that Alan Horn and the good folks of WB will be even more tippy-toe careful in what they greenlight in the future (another bellwether of whether "edginess", even the manageable budget variety, gets more chances to be bankable at Warners: the box office performance of the reportedly-megaraunchy OBSERVE AND REPORT with Seth Rogen and Anna Faris--opening next month).

At this point, potential pranksters could consider pitching WB on a PG-13 comedy adaptation of the 70s self-help book I'M OK, YOU'RE OK--and suggest Rainn Wilson as a hippieish 70s Marin County shrink who gets cryogenically frozen and thawed out in the late 2000s.

The cynic in me thinks that Alan Horn and Jeff Robinov would pay top dollar for such a pitch.

And, don't forget, the 70s sex manual JOY OF SEX came very close to getting made at Paramount in the early 80s as a vehicle for John Belushi. (It did get produced a few years later as a low-budgeter directed by Martha Coolidge and starring quirky cult-actress Michelle Meyrink. And it flopped.)

Safe to guess that lightning could strike twice.