[7thson]

Sadly, you are correct. One great example is Raise The Titantic by Clive Cussler. It sucked at the box office and that was it for Dirk Pitt. A shame really, considering that with today's technology, some of thos books would be great movies - if only done by a first class director and great casting.

[Long Cut]

Actually, Pitt might return. An adaptation of Cussler's Sahara is currently in production. The idea is to provide an American counterweight to James Bond, and producers have settled on Dirk Pitt as a good candidate.

They're looking to avoid the mistakes from the RTT! movie, most of which had to do with the '70s timeframe in which it was made, which attitudes influenced it to the negative.

[Long Cut]

Cussler has said that the descision not to pursue more Pitt movies was his, after he was apalled at the treatment he and his material recieved from Hollywood.

Numerous others have expressed similar disgust with the movie industry's attitude towards authors of books. Among them are Anne Rice and Tom Clancy.

Hollywood seems to treat them as third-class citizens after they buy the rights to books. They really have little respect for them, overall.