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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Clive Cussler is suing the producers of Sahara. They're suing back, of course.

The movie cost 160 million smackers and took in 68 mill domestic. Because it was a bad, boring, slow, flat movie. I looked forward to it coming out, because it looked like a fun adventure story. It wasn't.

Cussler disowned the movie (though he made 12 million dollars off of it). He corrected several scripts, approved four of them, and then the producers commissioned someone to write a completely different movie. The director, meanwhile, couldn't decide if it should be an adventure movie, a shoot-em-up action movie (which is darker than an adventure movie), or a mystery. So he took the worst aspects of all of them and threw them in a blender.

Did I mention it was a sad, terrible movie? Good actors, mind you, but everything else was awful.

This is the danger of selling your story to Hollywood. Normally, I'd happily laugh my way to the bank over such a disaster, if I were the writer, but Dirk Pitt is a franchise movie. Now, personally, I'd be happy with 12 mill, but Cussler has written dozens of DP novels, all of which can be made into movies. Sahara was a franchise killer, and lost him several hundred millions in future earnings. He says it's about the story, which I can understand, and probably it is. You have to love a character to write that many books about him. Cussler has so much money that the future earnings aren't that big a deal, but not getting his stories to the screen? That could be a big deal. It's just when you're talking so much money, it gets surreal quickly...

8 comments:

sherlock said...

I listen to rock. Skillet, Switchfoot, Hawk Nelson, and the few Evanescence my 'rents let me listen too.(3)

sigh. they don't make good movies anymore do they? i just saw facing da giants, and i'll reivew them if i get the chance.

sherlock said...

facing the giants was pretty good though.

sherlock said...

we found an copy of The Visitation in my "attic". Mum and Dad want to know if i could read it? I've read This Present Darkness and some Ted Dekker.

Rob said...

I read the Visitation quite awhile ago. If memory serves it's a little dark. More modern Dekker than the old Perretti stuff. I really don't remember it well enough to make a good recommendation. Sorry.

overthinker said...

well. i must admit that i didn't quite read the whole post.

sorry.

Rob said...

No sweat. It was pretty unfocused. You've got a good eye for good writing (and this wasn't good, so you're just maintaining your batting average).

overthinker said...

haha. i like how you turned my laziness into brilliancy. i wish you'd graded my math homework...

haha.

seriously, i enjoyed lunch today with our fams. thanks for letting me sit with the big kids. ;)

Rob said...

Any time. Your family is the best. And, as you can see by the recent post, very convicting...