After three months of sitting in an LA courtroom a jury has finally come to a decision in the case brought to trial by famous author Clive Cussler. If you remember, he brought a lawsuit against Philip Anschutz’s Crusader Entertainment over the 2005 feature film “Sahara”.
The decision was a win for Cussler — well sort of. The jury was split and both sides walked away claiming victory.
The court awarded Crusader a total of $5 million in damages for past and future economic loss. However, the jury also found that Crusader is obligated to pay Cussler about $8.5 million for the rights to the second of two Cussler books that Crusader licensed for a planned film series based on his Dirk Pitt adventure series.
The court also granted that Cussler is entitled to the film rights to his books based on a finding that, under the terms of his contract, principal photography on “Sahara” did not start on time.
Cussler was cited by the court for knowingly making false claims to Crusader that the Pitt series had sold 100 million copies rather than only 40 million. Because of this Cussler was not awarded punitive damages. But the judge did give Cussler entitlement to some additional fees due to Crusader’s own misrepresentation concerning “Sahara.”
After this grueling ordeal Cussler, now 75, said he has had enough of Hollywood and will not turn any more of his books into movies. “There won’t be another Clive Cussler film, at least not during my lifetime,” the famed author said.
“Sahara,” starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz was considered a box office failure because, although it grossed nearly $69 million in ticket sales, it ended up losing more than $80 million after all the full production costs were accounted for.
Is it just me or were Clive Cussler and Sam Sloan separated at birth?
I’ve read just about every Cussler Book, including “Sahara”, and although the book was much better, the movie was alright. Several of the plot points in the book, including on of the most descriptive and imaginative literary battles was in “Sahara”, and I don’t think Hollywood has the true vision nor the cojones to explore some of the topics in that book. Easily one of the better, if not best, in the Cussler library.
Cussler’s Dirk Pitt series could easily have become a major Hollywood franchise ala the James Bond or Indiana Jones franchises . . . but it doesn’t appear anyone in Hollywood ever actually read the books, understood the characters, or realized that Cussler and Pitt have a huge fan base who are loyal to the stories and characters and expect them to be respected. Sahara was a fun romp as a buddy flick – but Pitt, Giordino, Sandecker and Gunn were miscast and misdirected and the producers alienated the fan base that could have helped the movie succeed. Good for Cussler.