Variety is reporting that DC Comics has ended a 'seven month search for its 'man in Hollywood'' by plucking Gregory Noveck out of producer Joel Silver's TV production staff and giving him the newly minted position of Senior VP, Creative Affairs. Noveck was a Senior VP of Television at Silver Pictures, and before that the Senior VP Creative Affairs at Scott Rosenberg's Platinum Studios. According to Variety, Noveck will be charged with working with Time Warner's various film studios (Warner Bros. Pictures, WB TV, HBO, and New Line Cinema) in order to exploit the 'so far largely underused (DC) character universe,' which 'has been gathering dust.' Noveck will split time between Hollywood and New York and report directly to DC CEO Paul Levitz.
Variety did note that movies based on the DC characters Catwoman, Constantine, and Wonder Woman are in various stages of production and that DC already had scored some notable successes on television thanks to the live action Smallville and animated series such as Justice League and Teen Titans. But the article also pointed out Time Warner's desire to 'make a variety of pics at different pricepoints, just as arch-rival Marvel Comics has done with low-budget The Punisher at Artisan and pricey Hulk at Universal.' Even with a potentially ultra-cool Batman film helmed by Memento director Christopher Nolan in the works, DC still lags well behind Marvel in exploiting its characters on the big screen. Gregory Noveck's primary task will be to close that gap.
