Michael Crichton was quite the prolific writer before his death nearly a decade ago in 2008. His influence on Hollywood looms large, authoring the novels Jurassic Park and The Lost World, upon which the Steven Spielberg built a franchise, in addition to writing and directing the original 1973 film Westworld, which laid the groundwork for the hit HBO show of the same name. The man has a reputation for putting humans in perilous situations with non-human entities, and his final novel Mirco is no different.

Mirco is another thriller, focusing on a team of graduate students who are lured to Hawaii to work for a mysterious biotech company. That is, until they are miniaturized and released into the rain forest with nothing but their scientific know-how and wits to survive. Hmmm… humans go to a tropical locale and have to face giant monsters? And it is all intended to build a new franchise? See, it does sounds a little familiar.

Steven Spielberg purchased the rights for Micro two years ago, with the intention of producing it through Amblin Entertainment. Deadline reports that now the film has a director! Amblin has secured Joachim Ronning, co-director of the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and the TV movie Doomsday, for the big-screen adaption. The script is penned by Darren Lemke, who wrote the film Goosebumps and its sequel, Shrek Forever After, Jack The Giant Slayer, and Turbo.

All the Jurassic Park and Lost World comparisons aside, it’s hard not to get excited for Micro. Though Ronning is still an unproven quantity to me, the project sounds like a slam dunk, especially with the success Spielberg has had shepherding other projects based on Crichton’s work. Amblin also picked up the rights for Crichton’s Pirate Latitudes, a novel discovered after the author’s death.

Have you read Micro? Is it really the stuff franchises are made of? Let us know in the comments below! 

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SOURCE: Deadline