A feature film is in the works for Michael Crichton and James Patterson's bestselling thriller, Eruption.
The book was released last week, and is already No. 1 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple. It was announced on Tuesday that the highly anticipated screen adaptation of the volcano disaster novel will be directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai, the filmmakers behind the Oscar-winning Free Solo, which became the highest-grossing documentary film opening of all time.
Eruption is a heart-pounding volcano thriller set in Hawaii. Crichton spent more than 20 years researching volcanic eruptions and working on his book before he died of cancer on Nov. 4, 2008 at age 66. The screen adaptation is expected to be a big sale, continuing the legacy of the author behind Jurassic Park, Westworld, Twister, ER and more. Patterson, Sherri Crichton and Shane Salerno are set to produce.
Chin and Chai made their narrative debut with Netflix's Nyad, a drama about Diana Nyad's impossible swim from Cuba to Florida at age 64. It drew Oscar nominations for its leads, Annette Bening, who portrayed Nyad, and Jodie Foster, who played Nyad's swimming coach, Bonnie Stoll.
Eruption will be the directors' biggest challenge to date, but their background in extreme sports may help, with Chin having been a professional climber and skier on the North Face Athlete team for over 20 years. In 2006, he achieved the first successful American ski descent from the summit of Mount Everest, and has taken on many other daunting climbs.
Studios and financiers will be pitched with the expectation that a deal will be made before a screenwriter is hired. Deadlinereports that there have already been preliminary meetings with several top scribes, as well as big stars who might star in a movie that's being architected in the style of Crichton’s Jurassic Park, which was also shot in Hawaii.
Eruption recently went out to several major studios, streamers and networks that are preparing offers to adapt the novel from the two best-selling authors. The auction is being handled by Salerno's The Story Factory and CAA.
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