“Pirates of the Caribbean 5” helmer to direct science thriller “Micro”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Joachim Rønning is in talks with Amblin Entertainment to direct its adaptation of Michael Crichton’s science thriller “Micro”, Variety said.

Rønning teamed with Espen Sandberg to co-direct “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” and “Kon-Tiki.”

Amblin’s predecessor DreamWorks acquired the film rights in 2015 to “Micro” with Frank Marshall attached to produce. The story follows a group of graduate students lured to Hawaii to work for a mysterious biotech company, only to find themselves miniaturized and cast out into the rainforest with nothing but their scientific expertise and wits to protect them.

Darren Lemke, whose credits include “Goosebumps,” “Turbo,” and “Jack the Giant Slayer,” is attached to write the “Micro” screenplay.

“Micro” was unfinished when Crichton died in 2008, then was completed by author Richard Preston and published by HarperCollins in 2011. Crichton had teamed with Steven Spielberg for mega-hit “Jurassic Park” in 1993, a year before Spielberg co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

In 2009, DreamWorks acquired the rights to another posthumously published Crichton novel, “Pirate Latitudes.” Crichton’s works have been adapted more than a dozen times by Hollywood, going back to 1971’s “Andromeda Strain” and including “The Great Train Robbery,” “Rising Sun,” “Congo,” “Disclosure,” “Sphere,” and “The 13th Warrior.”

Crichton also directed and wrote “Westworld,” “Coma,” “The Great Train Robbery,” and “Looker,” and had screenplay credits on “Jurassic Park” and “Twister.”

Rønning is also attached to direct Warner Bros.’ “Methuselah” with Tom Cruise starring. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.