In what Variety is calling the first major development deal ever since Dreamworks officially split from Paramount Pictures, studio CEO and co-chair Stacey Snider announced that it had acquired the movie rights to Pirate Latitudes, the last book to be written by Michael Crichton before his death last November.
Found by Crichton’s assistant, Latitudes is set in the mid 1600s and is about a plan to raid Port Royal in Jamaica and sail away with the treasures that are being held on a Spanish galleon; the book will see publication this fall.
As far as the movie adaptation goes, Steven Spielberg is set up to be the movie’s producer, and Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp will adapt; the hope is that Spielberg will direct as well.
I remember when I was younger, I went on a huge Crichton kick both movie-wise and novels-wise and I almost always loved his novels more than I loved the movie adaptations of them, especially Sphere.
However, I have to wonder, just as arkonbey did in the comments to this post, isn’t the time for pirate movies either over or now entirely within the realm of Disney and Captain Jack Sparrow? Would audiences go and see a movie about pirates who don’t mince and wear black kohl around their eyes?
Only time (and the cast list) will tell.
arkonbey says:
I'll argue that the current romantic vision of pirates has been in the Disney realm for fifty years, perhaps even since Captain Blood.
I'd welcome a real vision of pirates to erase some of their charming veneer, but you're probably right that audiences would not accept it (perhaps even think it was a tarnishing of the real history).
Funny, I was just thinking that Ben Pease was one of the more realistic portrayals of a pirate; too bad Nate and Hayes such a mediocre film…
arkonbey says:
I'll argue that the current romantic vision of pirates has been in the Disney realm for fifty years, perhaps even since Captain Blood.
I'd welcome a real vision of pirates to erase some of their charming veneer, but you're probably right that audiences would not accept it (perhaps even think it was a tarnishing of the real history).
Funny, I was just thinking that Ben Pease was one of the more realistic portrayals of a pirate; too bad Nate and Hayes such a mediocre film…