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Today's LAT explores the possibility that Brokeback Mountain's critical reception and early success in limited theatrical release may recast the movie's now-iconic gay cowboys as gay messiahs sent to resurrect various similarly themed (read: gay) projects from development hell. While it's definitely nice to imagine Ennis and Jack galloping onto a movie lot and setting up a production ranch where they can nurture such endeavors, some insiders tell the Times that the studios don't see enough dollar signs to totally flip over for Brokeback Mania:

Alan Gasmer, a literary agent at the William Morris Agency, said he isn't aware yet of a groundswell for gay-themed scripts at the studios.


"I have not seen or heard from any [studio] executive who says that is what they are looking for," said Gasmer.

"I don't think people are going to look at 'Brokeback Mountain,' with its modest business, and say, 'If we want to get rich, let's make movies about gay cowboys,' " said entertainment attorney Stan Coleman. "But what it does say is you need not be prohibited from making those movies, if they are made for a price and marketed in good taste."

Baby steps are perhaps better than no steps at all, but maybe the studios are just playing it too safe. No, gay cowboys haven't started printing them money, but it's been a long time since Westerns of any kind did. If they really want to make an impact at the box office while offering socially progressive material, they need to think bigger and look at what worked in 2005, then unleash development slates populated with gay wizards, gay Jedi, and, to cover the R-rated comedy craze, gay wedding (or at least civil union ceremony) crashers.