Big-Bucks Book Biz : ‘Jurassic Park’ Author Ties Film-Rights Record With New Novel

Michael Crichton, who wrote the novel that led to the movie that just broke box office records, has scored yet again.

Even as “Jurassic Park” raked in $60 million in its first five days on movie screens, Crichton’s agent sold the film rights to his latest book to Warner Bros. for $2.5 million, tying the record set by John Grisham’s “The Client” and Gay Talese’s “Thy Neighbor’s Wife.”

Crichton is also guaranteed a $500,000 producer’s fee, and other provisions in his agreement could make the deal more lucrative still.

Crichton could not be reached for comment. His agent, Robert Bookman of Creative Artists Agency, closed the deal with Warner on Monday night, after sending Crichton’s unpublished manuscript to each of the Hollywood studios to read over the weekend. It was no coincidence that CAA submitted the book just as “Jurassic Park” opened to record weekend business.

“Jurassic Park” was produced by Universal Pictures, where a highly placed source said the studio was “very interested” in the new Crichton book but was not given the opportunity to bid because “Warner Bros. made a preemptive offer and took it off the market.”

CAA and Warner officials maintain that the book was on the open market and that other studios did make offers. Warner has lately been very aggressive in buying literary properties for movies, including “The Client” and “The Pelican Brief.” Both are by Grisham and both are being produced.

While Crichton’s untitled book does not have the sexy special effects and dinosaur intrigue of “Jurassic Park,” it does happen to deal with a timely and provocative subject: sexual harassment in the workplace. Crichton embarked on the subject for his book before the 1991 Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings.

Crichton’s latest work, an espionage thriller set in a Seattle computer company, is about a man who comes to work one morning in the midst of a corporate takeover and finds that his expected promotion has been given to his ex-girlfriend, who is now his boss. She then makes advances to him, which he rejects. She in turn accuses him of sexually harassing her. A trial ensues.

Bookman declined to confirm any financial details and would only say, “Dr. Crichton is thrilled with the outcome of this deal,” which the agent acknowledged is “substantially” bigger than the sale three years ago of the author’s “Jurassic Park” to Universal for $2 million, including $1.5 million for the book rights and a $500,000 screenwriting fee.

Crichton’s latest thriller will be published this fall by Alfred A. Knopf, and sources familiar with the Warner deal said the studio will pay him another $250,000 as a bonus if the book becomes a bestseller.

The agreement also gives Crichton a share in the movie’s profit and makes him sole producer, though that could change if he winds up sharing that credit with a director. Crichton has chosen not to write the screenplay, but shares mutual rights with Warner to approve a screenwriter and director.

Success is nothing new to Crichton. Two years ago, he sold his thriller “Rising Sun” to 20th Century Fox for about $1 million. Directed by Phil Kaufman, it will be released July 30, starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes.

Crichton’s works also include “The Andromeda Strain,” “Terminal Man” and “The Great Train Robbery,” all made into movies. His 1980 novel “Congo” originally sold to Fox for $750,000 plus $250,000 for the script. It languished until recently, when Paramount Pictures acquired the rights for producers Kathleen Kennedy, who co-produced “Jurassic Park,” and Frank Marshall.

But his latest deal puts him in a select circle. In 1979, Gay Talese’s nonfiction book about sex in America, “Thy Neighbor’s Wife,” sold to United Artists for $2.5 million--believed to be the largest amount paid for a book of any kind at the time. The movie was never produced.

More recent big movie-rights deals include the $2.5-million sale of John Grisham’s “The Client” to Warner Bros. and producer Arnon Milchan’s New Regency Productions.

Other recent big book deals include the sale of Grisham’s “The Pelican Brief” to Warner for $1.3 million. In 1990, Warren Adler’s “Private Lies” sold to TriStar Pictures for $1.2 million. Adler’s prior work “War of the Roses” was made into a movie by Fox and grossed $84 million domestically.

Top Dollar

Here are some of the highest fees paid for film rights to books.

$2.5 million: New Regency Prods. for “The Client,” John Grisham, 1992 $2.5 million: United Artists for “Thy Neighbor’s Wife,” Gay Talese, 1979 $1.5 million: Universal for “Jurassic Park,” Michael Crichton, 1990 $1.3 million: Warner Bros. for “The Pelican Brief,” John Grisham, 1990 $1.2 million: Tri-Star for “Private Lies,” Warren Adler, 1990 $1 million: MGM-UA for “Presumed Innocent,” Scott Turow, 1986 $1 million: Richard Zanuck for “Rush,” Kim Wozencraft, 1989