Steven Spielberg is planning on returning to the works of one of the writers who have served him the best in the past, the late Michael Crichton. Spielberg adapted Jurassic Park from the novel by Crichton and now he plans to make a big-budget "mission movie" from Crichton's soon-to-be-published novel, Pirate Latitudes, about an English pirate who plots to steal Spanish gold in the New World.
About Pirate Latitudes, Spielberg said:
Michael wrote a real page-turner that already seems suited for the big screen. Michael and I have had almost two decades of solid collaborations. Whenever I made a film from a Michael Crichton book or screenplay, I knew I was in good hands. Michael felt the same, and we like to think he still does.
David Koepp, the writer who adapted Jurassic Park and Lost World for the screen, is attached to craft the screenplay of Pirate Latitudes. Spielberg is producing, but may also direct the film. According to DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider, Spielberg "always wanted to direct his own pirate film."
Spielberg and Crichton have known each other since the '70s, and the two also collaborated together in the development of the movie Twister and the TV show ER.