In November, "The Pirate Latitudes," a historical novel by Michael Crichton, will be released posthumously. Not surprisingly, Hollywood is also interested in the late author's tale of buccaneers and Spanish galleons in 17th-century Jamaica, as movie adaptations of Crichton's books have earned more than $2 billion worldwide.

Our friends over at FilmDrunk are reporting that Steven Spielberg has now optioned the book, perhaps in an effort to prevent "Hook" from being the extent of his pirate-film legacy.

In 1993, when Spielberg and Crichton got together on "Jurassic Park," it was a T-Rex financially ($357 million domestically, $914 million worldwide), but was the dinosaur thriller even the best film adaptation of a Crichton novel?

From the Web:
If This Summer's Indies Were Blockbusters. (Moviefone)
I Still Want Credit For My Internship at Jurassic Park. (College Humor)