Michael Crichton's 'Micro' Still In The Works At Amblin, New Writers Hired
A Micro movie, adapted from one of the final novels of Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton, has been in development at Amblin Entertainment since 2015. Now there's an update on the project: Neil Widener and Gavin James have been hired to take over screenplay duties. The film's plot appears to be lifted right out of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, focusing on a group of people shrunk down to miniature size and forced to navigate the rain forrest. More on the Micro movie below.
What's going on with Micro, the film adaptation of one of Michael Crichton's last novels? The movie was announced in 2015, and last year, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales co-director Joachim Ronning was hired to direct. Now, Deadline has a new update. Neil Widener and Gavin James, who wrote Liberty Road and Battle Of Alcatraz, have been hired to write the script. Here's the synopsis of the story they'll be dealing with:
In the vein of Jurassic Park, this high-concept thriller 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 rain forest, with nothing but their scientific expertise and wits to protect them.
An instant classic, Micro pits nature against technology in vintage Michael Crichton fashion. Completed by visionary science writer Richard Preston, this boundary-pushing thriller melds scientific fact with pulse-pounding fiction to create yet another masterpiece of sophisticated, cutting-edge entertainment.
Darren Lemke was previously hired to pen the script, but now Widener and James will take over. Frank Marshall is producing and Sherri Crichton and Laurent Bouzereau of CrichtonSun are executive producers. Deadline states that a director currently isn't attached to the project, which indicates that Ronning is no longer at the helm.
Micro was unfinished when Crichton died in 2008. Author Richard Preston completed the novel, which was then published in 2011. It was one of three posthumous publications from Crichton, the other two being Pirate Latitudes, published in 2009, and Dragon Teeth, which hit bookstores in 2017. Steven Spielberg's Amblin has a history with Crichton's work, having produced the Jurassic Park films, as well as Twister, which Crichton co-wrote.
The Micro premise – tiny people battling giant elements! – certainly sounds cinematic enough. It recalls both Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and the 1958 sci-fi flick Attack of the Puppet People. And of course, the Ant-Man movies as well. Crichton movie adaptations have had a rough time outside of the Jurassic franchise, but maybe this will work out in the end.