The Last Olympian– er– The Lightning Thief a Go at Sony

by Junky April 18, 2007

From Ain’t it Cool News:

Chris Columbus is swinging in to direct and produce an adaptation of Rick Riordan’s novel THE LIGHTNING THIEF, which is the first installment in the authorâ€™s PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS series.

“Thief” centers on a young boy who discovers that he is the descendant of a Greek god and sets out — with the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena — on a dangerous adventure to settle an ongoing battle between the gods. Along the way, he faces a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. He also must come to terms with a father he has never known and an oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend.

That may not sound familiar to you, but it’s only because I managed not to sell my 2001 script “The Last Olympian,” which is the EXACT SAME STORY.

Of course, as usual, mine is a bit more complicated and I didn’t have the good sense to turn it into a series of children’s novels (“such good sense” apparently being the ingredient to actually making a living, which I expect to continue to elude me unitl the apocalypse or the time when my heart just finally gives out).

This disgusting feeling in the pit of my stomach is an interesting not-at-all turn from the disgusting feeling I got two days ago, when…

From Ain’t it Cool News:

Columbia wants Sam Raimi to do their Fantasy Flick! Not New Line’s!!

Sam Raimi recently talked about THE HOBBIT during press for SPIDER-MAN 3 and the feeling I got from that was that he thought the series belonged to Peter Jackson and wouldn’t even consider it if he didn’t have Jackson’s approval. That could just be him playing politics, though.

Now Columbia has picked up a fantasy flick from Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It was a huge deal. Raimi is definitely lined up to produce, though the trades don’t mention him being locked in to direct.

The title wasn’t released, but the story follows a New York cynic who is forced to go to a land untouched by modern civilization and ends up a reluctant hero, saving a village and a princess from fairy tale creatures.

That may not sound familiar to you, but it’s only because I didn’t sell my 1997 script “Revolution,” which is VERY NEARLY the EXACT SAME STORY.

Ha ha. Life is fun.