Now here’s a really exciting piece of news, especially for anyone who likes a good pirate movie.  Michael Crichton’s last book, Pirate Latitudes, is going to be adapted into a movie by no one less than Steven Spielberg.

This isn’t the first Michael Crichton movie adapted by Spielberg–he tackled both Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World, so you can be pretty sure that he knows how to handle a Crichton novel.  Even better, he’s got a personal high opinion of Crichton’s work–check this out:

Anything that Michael wrote, Steven would be keenly interested to read. But without Michael knowing it, or even me knowing it, it turns out Steven always wanted to direct his own pirate film.

This isn’t surprising–considering how heavily pirate-themed The Goonies was and the somewhat piratical nature of the Indy film, it’s definitely a logical step for Spielberg to go to piracy as a theme.  Got to admit, though, I’m definitely looking forward to this.