BREAKING: I’m hearing that 20th Century Fox is the frontrunner to acquire Wool, a self-published e-book that has become an internet sensation and is being called the sci-fi version of Fifty Shades of Grey. Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free are partnering on the deal with Film Rites’ Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch. Producer credits are still being worked out, but they will include Scott Free’s Elisha Holmes and Michael Costigan. Fox’s Steve Asbell will oversee it.

There has been something of a stampede of bidders, including Lionsgate, for a book was written by Hugh Howey. Wool is about a dystopian future where the last inhabitants on earth band together in safe bunkers called silos. No one is allowed outside until a secret is discovered that could change the course of humanity, as well as reveal its devastating past. Bidders sparked to the book and the grassroots groundswell of reader interest reminiscent of Fifty Shades Of Grey, which sold for a fortune to Universal. UTA is repping the book on behalf of Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency and attorney Wayne Alexander.