Way back when I remember hearing about this whole Clive Cussler versus Hollywood thing regarding the movie Sahara. I’ve never seen this movie (I heard it was mostly crap) and I’ve never read a Clive Cussler novel (I know, hang me from the rafters). I do know Dirk Pitt is a popular literary figure though, and that there’s a lot of fans frustrated that Hollywood can’t “get it right”.
And nobody was more frustrated than Cussler. There’s a lot of legal goo in this fracas but I’ll try and sort through this best I can. Reportedly he said some not-so-nice things about the film adaptation of Sahara during and prior to it’s release. He was peeved because he was of the understanding that he would get full script approval. This didn’t happen so he asked his readers to basically boycott the movie.
This ticked off producer Phillip Anschutz’s production company, Crusader Entertainment, who argued he violated his contract with them when he made such statements and they refused to pay him his $8.5 million for second-picture rights to another film adaptation of a Dirk Pitt adventure. Cussler then got pissed at that and somewhere in the middle, lawsuits went flying in every which direction.
Well today, a Los Angeles jury ruled that Cussler is to pay $2.5 million to Crusader Entertainment for “past economic damages” and another $2.5 mil for “future economic damages”. Personally, I think he probably owed a lot more but I don’t begrudge a writer for speaking his mind if he thinks his material is being slaughtered.
The trial wasn’t all in Crusader Entertainment’s favor, however. The jury also decided that the production company owes Cussler the $8.5 million promised for the second, never-released Dirk Pitt film. Basically, the jury said “You’re both being idiots”. If you want to sort through any more of this nonsense, feel free by clicking here.
